


Heroes of Light

by Beribits



Category: Kingdom Hearts, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Finally got this out, Gen, Keyblades (Kingdom Hearts), Let's see if I can get it right this time yall, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, this is a reboot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 02:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 113,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22008199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beribits/pseuds/Beribits
Summary: Shadows of the Past, Light of the Future Reboot!When shadows threaten to take over the world, and all seemed lost a new hero appears out of nowhere and chases away the darkness. Izuku Midoriya wants to follow this hero, feeling a strange connection to her and her power. Little did he know that he'd become part of something much bigger.
Comments: 51
Kudos: 152





	1. Beginnings

**Beginnings**

  
  


No one was really sure where they came from, how they got there or why. One day seemed normal as it could be, then the next the world was infested with these strange creatures.

The first incident took place in the city of Minato, Tokyo, the strange creatures leaping out from the shadows and attacking the citizens. Causing them to disappear within moments of being attacked.

Slowly they began to spread, from cities to countries, soon enough to the entire world. It was an infestation that led Pro Heroes scrambling for a solution. Day in and day out they would set their sights on these creatures, attempting to balance out the fight with villains and the shadowy monsters. 

People became panicked, scared to leave their homes for fear of being attacked. Especially in the nighttime, where the monsters seemed to become more frenzied and bold. Attacking anything that moved. Many Heroes and civilians were either injured or killed, overwhelmed by the creatures.

Just when it seemed like the end was near when larger and more powerful creatures began manifesting, someone appeared and slew them all in one fell swoop. With a swing of her curious blade and a wave of her hand, unleashing whatever elements she pleased, the monsters fell. One by one they all swarmed the stranger, only to be cut down and never appear again.

What Pros struggled with over months on end, this stranger was able to accomplish in mere moments. 

She wouldn’t stick around for the aftermath, disappearing as soon as they came and moving on to the next infestation. Only ever staying to heal a few people before leaving. No one was ever sure how the woman was able to fell these creatures, armed with only a key-shaped sword but they were thankful nonetheless.

A few months after this stranger’s appearance the shadows appeared less frequently, only daring to show themselves come nighttime. Almost every time the woman was always there to save the day.

As thankful as citizens were the law still saw her as a vigilante, using her power without a license. Some heroes were sent after her to apprehend her. Every time she managed to escape, most heroes going after her on sight.

Yet there was one hero that persisted, Ingenium. No matter how many times he lost her he would always track her down. Again and again, they came face to face, and every time she would leave him in the dust. Laughing as she jumped over rooftops, evading capture before disappearing.

Over time she had made a name for herself, and the public had taken to calling her Guardian, the Hero of Light. Granted she was an unofficial hero, a vigilante in the eyes of the law and other Pro Heroes.

A wannabe hero pest to some, and a new symbol to many.

Izuku Midoriya was 5 years old when he first met Guardian, a few months after her first debut.

**-.-**

The boy had been hiding in a cluster of bushes, growing worried with each passing minute.

He, Kacchan, and the others were playing a game of hide-and-seek. The game had been going on for hours, and he had been so confident in his hiding spot. He had figured he’d blend in perfectly with the greenery and he’d never be found. He ended up falling asleep for a while, only to wake up in the dark.

They hadn’t called out for him yet, which meant they had to still be looking for him. Right? He and Kacchan would play with the others for hours on end. Especially at hide-and-seek. They’d let him know if they were leaving, right?

Of course they would, but maybe they were looking in the wrong spot. Maybe it was time for him to change locations, maybe to somewhere they could find him easily. He was getting pretty tired and his mom must be worried, but he didn’t want to risk leaving Kacchan and the others behind. 

A hero wouldn’t do that, neither would a best friend.

He shifted around for a bit before standing up, humming as he brushed himself off. He looked around with a bit of unease. Everything was dark and he could hardly see his hand in front of his face.

His mother told him to be back before dark, Kacchan’s mom would want that too. That meant he had to find his friends and find them fast. Izuku’s mom told him about the monsters that would appear at night, the main reason kids would flee indoors once the sun started to set.

“Kacchan?” He called out hesitantly. Everything looked different in the dark, he wasn’t sure where he was. “Kacchan where are you?” He spoke a bit louder.

There was no answer.

The boy’s lip trembled as his eyes began to water. He sniffed before rubbing at his eyes, trying to calm himself down. He wasn’t supposed to cry, everyone said he cries too much.

“Maybe they thought I already went home.” He muttered, gripping at the hem of his shirt. “Maybe that’s why they’re not here.” He tried to reason it out. His mother always said to step back and think things over before panicking, it’s never as bad as you think.

“Kacchan?” He tried again, beginning to move forward. If he kept calling someone would respond, someone had to find him. He shuddered as a cold wind blew past him, making leaves rustle and sending branches swaying this way and that.

He walked forward, further into the forest whereas he thought he was going home.

“Kacchan!” He shouted, freezing when he heard a bush began to rustle and shift. He smiled, hopeful. He quickly walked over, he knew his best friend wouldn’t leave him! 

“Y-You didn’t leave! I’m sorry I was hiding for so long-” He began apologizing until he saw two beady yellow eyes staring at him from the foliage. First one pair, then two, then three, then soon enough he saw a wall of yellow eyes in the shadows ahead.

Izuku’s stomach dropped as he backed away, looking around. Only to see more eyes staring him down. He was surrounded. 

He whimpered while the creatures began to close in. He could hear them skittering all around, becoming eager as they grew closer and closer.

“Kacchan!” He called out, hoping someone would hear him. “Mama!” 

He yelped as one jumped forward, claws outstretched. He didn’t have a chance to dodge the creature before it pounced on him and began to claw at him. The child tried his best to fight back, screaming and crying while he tried to push the ant-like shadow off.

Just as the rest were about to overtake him, the air chilled and a frost began to appear on the ground. Before the creature attacking him could do any more damage, it was banished with a swipe of a blade. Disappearing in a puff of smoke.

He gasped and looked up, seeing a figure with a soft glow around her.

“W-Who-”

“Stay down, I’ll take care of the rest of them.” She spoke in a gentle yet firm tone.

Izuku could only bring himself to nod, watching in awe as the woman took a few steps forward. An even thicker frost began to manifest around them, leaving an untouched circle around herself and the child. 

She stared ahead at the wall of shadows and took a deep breath.

“Blizzaga: Overtake.”

She slammed her sword into the ground and a thick sheet of ice spread across the ground and slammed into the shadows, blowing them back before completely encasing them and freezing them in place.

With one fluid motion, she took her sword out of the ground and spun around with a loud shout. Sending a wave of ice from her blade, shattering the creatures that had been surrounding them. 

As soon as they were gone some of the darkness seemed to leave the forest, making it a bit easier for them to see.

As soon as the rest of the shadows dissipated the woman approached the sniffling child. She knelt down and held out a hand, producing a small flame and giving them a bit more light.

“Are you alright?” She asked, getting a good look at him. She frowned at the scratched and scrapes he had earned from the scuffle with the lone shadow. “What is a child like you doing out here so late at night?”

Izuku could only nod, biting his lip before he broke out into tears.

“I don’t know where my friends are!” He sobbed, wiping at his eyes. “We-We were playing a game, a-and I fell asleep. I woke up and it was dark, I-I’m trying to find them but I don’t know where I am! Then the monsters came and I was scared!”

The woman let him cry for a bit before gently picking him up, her strange weapon disappearing. The flame left for a second, plunging them into darkness while she adjusted her hold on him. He cried a bit harder as the dark returned.

“Hold on.” She murmured, trying to soothe him. She held out one hand again and created another flame, a bit brighter and bigger than the last.

Izuku clung to her and watched as she made some kind of sphere appear around the fire. It was clear with a few hexagonal shapes around the middle. It flashed a few times before staying as is.

“Can you hold this for me?” She asked him softly.

“That?” he asked, holding out his hands. He gasped as she passed it to him, it was warm to the touch. Not as hot as he was expecting. “Woah.”

“There, now we can see.” She hummed, stepping around a few bushes. Up ahead there was a small creek with a log acting as a bridge.

“Are we gonna try to find my friends?” Izuku asked, looking up to her. She had a mask that covered up the lower part of her face, it looked like some kind of armor. Granted it was incomplete, it still looked pretty tough.

“I didn’t see or hear anyone else before I found you.” She answered. “Maybe they’re already back home.”

Izuku looked down with a frown. “They left me?” He asked, biting his lip as he felt another wave of tears coming.

“No, no I’m sure they didn’t leave you. Maybe they thought you headed home too.” She tried to reassure him. 

He sniffed and nodded. “M-Maybe.”

The child rubbed at his eyes as he began to relax, once again looking at his savior. Who was she? Was she a hero? She looked kind of famliar.

“Who are you?” Izuku asked, tilting his head. “Are you a hero?”

The woman looked surprised before smiling. “I’m not a hero, I’m just doing my job.” She insisted. “Keeping people safe from the darkness.”

“But, you  _ are _ a hero!” The child insisted. “You saved me, and you have such a cool Quirk!” He beamed. “And it’s a hero’s job to keep people safe.” 

That earned a soft laugh from her. “I suppose, maybe to you I’m a hero.”

The boy gave her a beaming smile. “That’s so cool. I wanna be a hero too.” He hugged the sphere holding the flame a bit tighter. “I wanna save people too, just like All Might, Just like you. Maybe my Quirk will come in soon, it hasn’t come yet though. Mama said I might just get it late…”

The woman glanced down at him, seeing his eyes water before he shook his head. 

“You have a dream.” She muttered, stopping after a moment. She could see some lights ahead, they were back near a neighborhood. They were close to where his home had to be.

He made a noise of confusion as she set him down, allowing him to keep their makeshift lantern. 

“Here, let me see.” She took his hand, sending a soft green glow over the boy’s body. Healing up all his scratches.

The boy gasped in surprise and looked at his arm. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” 

The woman still had a hold of his hand.

“It’s good to have a dream, especially one like yours.” She stood up and ruffled his hair. “You should get going, does this place look familiar to you?” she asked.

Izuku looked around, nodding as he saw the gate his friend had broken down. “Yeah. Yeah! I know where I am! I can get home from here.”

“Good, now run along. I’m sure your mom is worried about you.” She gave him a gentle push.

“Me too.” The boy muttered. He took a few steps forward and then stopped. Still holding the little lantern. He turned around and walked back to the strange woman, hugging her legs. “Thank you!” 

Before the hero could respond he ran off, using the makeshift lantern to help him find his way. From afar there was someone calling out for him.

“It’ll disappear soon.” The woman muttered to herself, watching the boy run forward. “But he’ll be close enough to home by the time it does.”

She sighed and watched that light get further and further away, closer to the neighborhood and the voices that called out.

She hummed as she felt her magic fade.

“That boy, such a bright light.” She murmured. “I didn’t think I’d find something like that here.” She clenched her fists as she looked ahead.

She could still feel it from here, and that was what drew her to that area. Just in time to save the boy. So much raw power and energy radiated off of him, ready to be honed into something powerful.

She summoned her Master’s Keyblade and looked down at it.

“Maybe I should keep an eye on him. Just to be sure.”


	2. Pupil

**Pupil**

  
  


He always felt so different compared to the other kids in the neighborhood. Compared to his friends, compared to Kacchan. 

He was never sure what it was, but he knew it was there. It was something he couldn’t describe. This weird...pull. It felt like a tug at his chest, pulling him this way and that. Like there was something inside him that wanted out, to show itself.

He wasn’t sure when that feeling manifested, it’s been with him for so long. Maybe some time after he met Guardian for the first time. Or maybe after his first fight with Katsuki, or maybe even before that.

Izuku was never sure what it was, but he did know one thing. 

Whenever he was met with one of the dark creatures everyone feared, that feeling in him would intensify. That something in him would demand he stand and fight, to face the darkness. Though no matter what he always found himself running away from them. 

He was scared, he was powerless. He had no way to defend himself from those things. The last time he tried he ended up doing more harm than good. Granted that harm was to himself, and he wasted the time of pros who spent a good couple moments yelling at him for being reckless. 

That was a few years ago, since then he had deigned to ignore that feeling. No matter how much it went against that strange instinct, to fight. To protect.

Though no matter how much he ran, the creatures would always hone in on him. Rushing towards him and taking any opportunity they had to swarm him. 

To say him getting yelled at by pros was a regular occurrence was an understatement. No matter how many times he insisted that he didn’t go after the creatures, and they chased after him his explanations fell upon deaf ears.

It was _his_ fault.

_He’s_ the one who irritated all those monsters.

If he just stayed on the sidelines where he belonged then there wouldn’t be any trouble.

And whenever it wasn’t a pro scolding him, it was her. The one who always kept her distance from him, but still seemed to watch from afar. 

Guardian.

She’s had to save him a few times whenever he got home late, either due to studying in the library or hiding out around the school to avoid Kacchan and his lackeys. Trying to run home and get ahead of him didn’t work out since they took the same route. 

Taking any other route would mean getting home later than what would be comfortable with his mom. It also meant the sun would be down well before he got home, which meant monsters. 

He’d rather risk taking the usual route home, thank you. It was quicker and he knew the area better. 

She never said anything, just watched and patrolled the area before disappearing. 

It was strange, whereas most kids looked up to All Might, Endeavor, or other top heroes he always found himself admiring Guardian. Yeah sure, All Might is pretty awesome, but Guardian was way cooler!

There was something about her that fascinated him, that drew him in. Like a moth to a flame. The way she moved, destroying those creatures with one swipe of her sword. How she harnessed the elements with ease, this strange energy always around her. Bending and twisting around her until it’s ready to be unleashed as something powerful.

It was amazing.

Something he could only ever hope to do, especially as a Quirkless person.

_“Stupid Deku, you still wanna be a hero?”_

_“Of course, I-I can still do it!”_

_“Wanna bet?”_

Izuku sighed and ran a hand up and down his arm, a burn from the previous day beginning to bother him again. An annoying itch biting at him and picking at his skin.

He was hardly listening to the lecture the teacher was giving them, he had heard it again and again from other teachers. Talking about how they should be considering what they want for their futures, what careers to look into.

Though a lot of them seemed to encourage the hero track for all but one. Each and every one feeling the need to point out that all but one could make it. And each and every time there was a crowd to laugh at him.

It never failed to make him hide in his arms, keeping his head down until the laughing stopped. 

Once again he was put into that position, ratted out by his teacher. Of course, just how he was planning on his day going. 

“I already know you all wanna go for the hero course!” The teacher shouted, throwing career aptitude tests into the air and prompting everyone to cheer loudly. Izuku glanced around to see kids using their Quirks, one having flames flare out from their hands, another turning into a rock. 

He grunted and gripped the edges of his desk as he felt that strange something in him flare up, seeking a way out but given none. This time it felt like an electric sensation, making his hands twitch and his heart skip a beat. 

“Ha! As if, don’t lump me in with these losers teach. They’ll be lucky to even be a sidekick to some washed up pro.” Katsuki stood on his desk, looking down at all the students around him. “I’m obviously the best here, and I’m gonna become the greatest hero of all time!” 

_There he goes again…_

“You wanna fight Katsuki!”

“You take that back!”

“Oh come on, I’ll take you all on!” He shouted, sparks flying from his hands. “I’ve aced all the mock tests, I’ve got one hell of a Quirk. I’m gonna beat All Might, becoming the richest and most popular hero, and it all starts at UA High!”

“Oh yeah, Midoriya aren’t you going for UA too?”

Izuku flinched and looked up as the class went silent. He looked around, opening his mouth to answer when everyone began laughing.

“Midoriya? A hero? You gotta be kidding!”

“He wants to shoot for UA? Ha, what a joke!”

Izuku looked down, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment. He flinched as someone threw a crumpled up ball of paper at him, and another threw a pencil which bounced off him.

“You can’t even get into UA without a Quirk, they don’t allow Quirkless losers like you!”

Izuku rushed to his feet, feeling the need to defend himself in some way. “Th-They got rid of that rule! I could be the first one, there’s no reason I can’t-”

Izuku was interrupted as Katsuki slammed a hand onto his desk, a loud explosion sounding out and knocking the boy to the ground. Izuku looked up to the blonde, eyeing the smoke coming from his hand.

“Listen here Deku, you’re worse than _all_ of these losers! You really think they’d let some Quirkless wannabe in when they could have me?” He stepped closer, towering over the boy.

Izuku let out an ‘eep’ of surprise and shook his head. “Hold on Kacchan, I’m not trying to compete against you. Really! I-I just wanna be a hero, ever since I was a kid...you know that. Even if I don’t have Quirk, there’s no harm. I mean as long as I try my hardest...right?” He asked, looking up to his former friend. 

“Tch, you’d never be able to hang with the best of the best, you’d die in the exams! Defenseless Izuku, you wanna embarrass yourself more by failing so hard?” He grabbed Izuku by his collar, his hand smoking.

Izuku whimpered and looked away, praying that the boy wouldn’t set off an explosion so close to his face.

Before it could escalate any further the teacher spoke up. “Alright, Bakugo that’s enough, to your seats everyone let’s continue with the lesson.” He sighed, turning around and picking up a piece of chalk.

Katsuki glared at the instructor before huffing and throwing Izuku back against the wall and leaving.

Izuku steadied himself and hurried back to his seat, keeping his gaze to the charred desk. He could still feel the gazes of a few students linger on him. A few whispers and laughs cutting through the lecture.

_Just keep your head down, you’ll be alright._

That strange feeling seemed to think otherwise, for just a moment a scorching heat settled into his chest before fizzling out a second later.

He was going to be alright.

That thought left his head as soon as he saw the scowl Katsuki was giving him.

**-HoL-**

“You damn nerd!”

Izuku saw stars as he was slammed into the wall, smoking hands gripping his collar. He flinched and turned his head, trying to escape the heat.

He had tried to run as soon as the bell rang, only getting so far before Katsuki caught up and dragged him to a quieter part of the school where no one would look. It didn’t matter, he had thought, Katsuki would have just found him somewhere else and taken his anger out then.

Why was he even angry?

“So, even though I told you over and over again you’re _still_ applying for UA?” Katsuki snarled.

Oh, that was why. 

“I-I am...but Kacchan I’m not trying to-” Izuku was cut off with a punch to the face, letting out a small cry of pain.

“Look at yourself Deku, useless, Quirkless wannabe.” Katsuki slammed him into the wall again earning a few laughs from the two lackeys that followed him everywhere. “Still trying to be a hero? Is that it? Think you’re gonna be the first Quirkless hero?”

Izuku didn’t answer, keeping his head down. It was hard to tell if that was a rhetorical question or not with Katsuki.

“Are you gonna answer me or not nerd?” 

It was a real question.

“L-Like I said earlier...there’s no harm it trying. Right?” Izuku answered meekly. “Maybe I can pass and-”

That earned him another blow, this time to the stomach. He would have doubled over and held the area of pain if his wasn’t still held against the wall. Instead he could only cough and try to catch his breath. 

“Don’t think too highly of yourself Deku, you wouldn’t even make it in the exams. Hell, I’m sure once they see you’re Quirkless they’d just kick you out! As if they’d want someone as worthless as you, even in the Gen Ed course.”

Izuku kept his head down as Katsuki glared down at him. Before the blonde could say anything else there was a laugh from one of the two lackeys from behind him. He threw Izuku’s bag to the ground and stood up with his notebook in hand.

“Look at this Bakugo, this loser’s been taking notes on how to be a hero.” He laughed and showed the notebook to him. Red eyes looked over the cover, twitching the more they stared at it. After a moment Katsuki snatched the book and looked it over.

“You’re delusional! You really think taking stupid notes is gonna help you be a hero?” One of the others laughed at him, holding his sides.

Katsuki huffed and held up the book, staring Izuku in the eye as he slammed an exploding palm onto it. 

Izuku shouted in surprise and reached for his book. “W-Why would you-”

Katsuki followed up by tossing the book at the koi pond, a small splash being heard. Making the green haired boy scream out in alarm again. Izuku was about to try to run to the pond when Katsuki grabbed his arm and pinned him against the wall again.

“Listen here Deku…” He placed a smoking hand on his shoulder, digging his fingers in and ignoring the whimpers of pain. “Don’t even think of applying to UA, or else.” He grinned down at him. Turning up the heat a bit before letting Izuku go.

Katsuki gave him one last shove before they began walking away.

“Wow, for someone who wants to be a hero so bad I thought he would have had a bit more fight in him.”

“Right? Well I guess now he really sees it. He’ll never be a hero.” He tossed a random piece of trash at Izuku who stayed silent during the entire interaction. “Better he figure it out now rather than later.”

The two walked ahead, stopping when they noticed Katsuki wasn’t following, or rather taking the lead.

Izuku slowly went to gather his belongings when Katsuki turned to him, making him freeze in his tracks.

“You know Deku, there _is_ one way you could become a hero.” He smirked at the way Izuku looked towards him, not quite facing him, that fragile little hope. “Pray you’ll get a Quirk in the next life, and take a swan dive off the roof.”

Izuku gasped, biting his lip as he clenched his hands into fists. He whirled around towards Katsuki in anger, hurt evident in his eyes. 

The bully only grinned and let off a few explosions. “Got a problem nerd?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Izuku only stared at him before looking away, willing himself not to cry in front of them. That strange feeling was back, burning a hole in his chest and consuming his insides. A raging fire that wanted to be let out, only to be snuffed out as Katsuki walked away.

Izuku quickly gathered his belongings, furiously wiping at his eyes as he packed everything up. It was only when he was sure the others were gone that he had emerged from the small space he had been cornered in, allowing him to make his way towards the pond.

His vision blurred as he stared at the fish eating away at his book.

_My dreams have been turned into fish food…_

“That’s enough, give it back.” He muttered, grabbing the book and spooking the fish. He sniffed and looked it over. It was scorched and the ink had begun to run. “Stupid jerk…”

He was angry. Angry at Katsuki, angry how he was treated by the boy he considered his friend. Angry at how everyone was towards him. He wiped at his eyes again and hugged the notebook close. Trying his best to be careful with it.

He panted as the feeling writhed within him, switching between a burning blaze and a freezing chill that made his entire form shiver. He made his way out of the school with one hand clutching at his chest, trying to hold back the rest of his tears.

As he made his way home he couldn’t help but wonder how it got this bad, why his friend shifted his attitude the way he did. Him being Quirkless couldn’t be the only reason could it?

He was finally able to take a deep breath as he stepped outside the school gates, the feeling in his chest finally settling down. 

_“Don’t even think of applying for UA, or else…”_

His hands shook as he gripped his notebook tightly.

_“It’s good to have a dream, especially one like yours.”_

“Watch me.”

  
  


**-HoL-**

There’s something surreal about walking home with your grocery bags in tow, and seeing the Number 1 hero poke his head out of a manhole cover to look around before diving back underground. Though not before asking a question.

“Excuse me citizen, have you seen a slime villain anywhere?” All Might asked, looking towards the young lady. 

Aqua looked around before shaking her head. “Er, no sir.” 

“Right, thank you!” 

She sighed to herself and kept walking.

It’s been 10 years since she had first arrived to this world. 10 years she had been keeping the darkness at bay to the best of her ability, and 10 years heroes have been chasing after for breaking the law via vigilantism. 

There was one hero in particular that had been trying to catch her for the longest time, he would come close but she’d always managed to slip away at the last second. It didn’t really feel like so much a serious chase anymore, but more like a game between the two. 

A game of unmasking as they jumped from building to building and ducked through different alleyways. Ingenium was stubborn, and was getting better and better at chasing her. He had come close a few times, but always slipped at the last second. Whether it was intentional or not, she wasn’t sure.

If there was one thing she was thankful for it was her being able to keep her identity mostly a secret, hardly her showing her face while patrolling. Over the years she had been able to build a mimic of her Keyblade armor with a little bit of help. It wasn’t as strong as the original armor, but it was close enough.

Kept her safe enough, though whenever she broke it or had a bad enough dent she always had to request repairs. Though looking for the proper materials was a pretty difficult task in itself, more than once she’s had to substitute a few things.

She sighed as she pulled at the mask around her mouth then adjusted her hood. Even when she was out in public in the light of day she still kept her face hidden. It was better to be safe than sorry, especially when she had someone at home waiting for her. 

Home.

Well, a second home.

She had decided to make the World of Heroes her home for the time being, not that she had much choice.

It was when she first arrived that she realized she was stranded in that world. In her exhaustion she was desperate to get back to her friends, back to a familiar world. 

She ended only causing harm to herself as she tried to open a gateway to another world, she attempted to force her way through only to be rejected and thrown back into where she had ended up. It hadn’t taken long to realize that for some reason the world was sealed off, all gateways and lanes had been cut off.

Save for the Realm of Darkness. 

Or rather, what had _saved_ her from the Realm of Darkness.

It was still a vivid memory, being cornered by a horde of creatures and doing whatever she had to in order to stay alive. They were hungry, ready to consume and put out any kind of light they could grasp on to. Even her own measly light, a pathetic beacon in the world of unending darkness.

She had pushed herself beyond the limit, using whatever magic energy she had and more. She had been running for what might have been hours, days, or even months. Hardly given a chance to rest whenever those creatures found her and decided to give chase. 

She thought it was all over once she had fallen from the ledge, the monsters choosing to chase after her even then. Just as they were about to reach her a bright light had come from the abyss below. 

So warm and radiant, wrapping around her and casting away the monsters with ease. Healing her wounds and giving her renewed vigor. It had taken her to the World of Heroes and brought her to the trash ridden beach. To a world that needed her.

Aqua hummed as she approached the old building she resided in. In was in a...not so nice part of town. But it was quiet and unoccupied, leaving her with plenty to work with. Especially with the residents she had taken in.

She looked around, staying in place until she was certain she wasn’t followed or had any attention on her. Once she was sure she slipped into an alleyway, moving quickly towards the end where the dumpster lay. 

She huffed and sped up into a run, jumping atop the dumpster and leaping up onto one of the air conditioners that stuck out of the building. She moved around with ease, jumping from wall to wall before diving into a small window with a makeshift curtain as cover. 

She yelped as she tried to land, her foot getting caught on something and causing her to tumble to the ground. She brought the groceries close to her chest and shielded them from the fall.

Aqua groaned as she rolled onto her back, staring at the old ceiling above. 

“I’m home!” She called out, sitting up to see a few Moogles looking towards her. 

“Welcome home kupo!” One of them waved to the Keyblade Master, then went back to their previous task.

“We have a door, kupo.” One of the older Moogles walked up to her just to dig through the bag and grab a pack of sweets she picked up. “I recommend you use it.”

Aqua laughed and stood up. “I know, but it would have taken me a bit longer if I used it.”

“You wouldn’t have fallen, kupo.”

She hummed and walked over to a table, placing the bag down and taking out the perishables. “You know I thought a certain someone would have come running out by now to greet me.”

“She would be, if she wasn’t napping.” The older Moogle grunted, opening the candies.

“She’s asleep?” Aqua looked over in surprise. “That’s good, she had a pretty rough night last night.” She went over to the fridge.

The Moogle nodded in agreement. “You’re heading out again?” 

“Yup, gotta go check on something real quick.” Aqua shrugged off her sweater. 

“Hmm, something or _someone_?”

Aqua went quiet, glancing over to the Moogle with a raised eyebrow. “...Perhaps.”

“Why you haven’t approached him yet still escapes me. You’re a Keyblade Master, yet you seem so hesitant on taking on a pupil.” He shot her a look. 

“I’m not hesitant.” She argued. I just...I just want him to be ready. This isn’t something that should be thrown onto someone, and if he isn’t ready then-”

“If I wanted to hear your excuses kupo I would have asked for them. Go, you’re burning daylight.” He huffed.

Aqua sighed and nodded, hurrying out of the room to get her armor. 

“Let me know when she wakes up.”

“How?”

“You know how to use a phone.”

“I suppose...”

“You know you do!”

**-HoL-**

_“Why are you being so mean Kacchan?_

_“Get lost Deku!”_

_“Wait up Kacchan!”_

_“I don’t need your help, I’m not a weakling like you!”_

_“Kacchan…”_

_“No one wants you around, useless Deku.”_

_“T-That’s not true…”_

_“You really wanna be a hero? Pray you’ll get a Quirk in the next life and take a swan dive off the roof.”_

Izuku sighed as he stood in front of the tunnel. Katsuki’s words still rattling in his mind. He had tried again and again to push them out of his mind, but no matter what they would come back. 

_“Take a swan dive off the roof.”_

He swallowed hard and shook his head. 

“You can’t just say stuff like that, what if I really jumped then what? Whatever...you’re not gonna stop me Kacchan…” He muttered, wiping at his eyes. He took a deep breath and started walking forward, choosing to take a page from All Might’s book and plastered a smile on his face.

He started laughing like his idol and marched forward, clutching his book tightly.

_I won’t let you stop me, I can’t stop. I’m gonna be a hero! I have to believe in myself, even if no one else will, I’ll keep smiling!_

He continued to laugh on his way, unaware of the slime seeping out of the manhole behind him. It wasn’t until he was halfway through the tunnel, he became aware of another presence. Something foul and malicious, the air turning sour with a rancid smell.

He whimpered, turning around despite his instincts telling him to run and get out of there. He paled as he saw a wall of slime behind him, towering over him before a pair of eyes and a mouth appeared.

“Good, you’ll make a perfect skin suit for me to hide in…” The villain grinned down at the teenager, watching him tremble and shake. Izuku was barely able to snap out of it long enough to turn around and start running, he didn’t get far before the villain pounced on him and enveloped him in the foul goop.

He screamed out as sludge was forced down his throat and suffocated him. He writhed and thrashed around as best he could as more and more of the sludge wrapped around him.

“It’ll be a lot easier for the both of us if you stop struggling kid. It’ll only hurt for a minute, then you’ll feel better soon.” He crooned. 

Izuku tried to scream again as he grabbed at the slime, desperately craving oxygen and only getting more of the slime forced down his throat. He gasped as the strange sensation came back, this time it felt like it had slammed into him. An intense heat burning him, itching beneath his skin and begging for a way out.

“Grab all you want kid, my body’s made of fluid. There’s no use, but thanks for the help. I had no idea _he_ was in the city. Gotta get out of here before he tracks me down, and you’re gonna help me with that.”

_No! I don’t...can’t breathe…_

He began to feel lightheaded, dark spots filling his vision. His struggles grew weaker and weaker, still grabbing at the slime.

_I think I’m dying…_

He stopped kicking at the villain, his consciousness fading. The only thing keeping him somewhat coherent was the heat under his skin.

_No! I don’t want to die! Not here...please!_

He made one more feeble attempt to grab at the slime, feeling himself go limp.

_Help!_

He wasn’t sure what it was, but it felt like something clicked. Something had shifted into its proper place.

The ground seemed to open up as that heat inside him exploded, turning into a raging inferno that seemed to burn him from the inside out.

He screamed, this time his voice echoing loudly in the tunnel as the slime wrapped around him was caught in the intense blaze.

“What the-” the slime villain screamed as he began to dry up, the sudden fire surprising him and making him panic. “Stop! Stop!” He yelled, trying to get away from the boy.

Izuku was unaware of the outside world, his only focus was letting the world know how much pain he was in as the fire consumed him from within. Something was being eaten away, like a well whose water had begun to dry up.

_What...is this?!_

He didn’t even register the pain of crashing into the ground, only able to feel the intense heat. It was unbearable, yet at the same time it was a welcome sensation. It was like relieving a pressure that had been there for the longest time. 

Now only if he could make it stop. 

He didn’t know how, he just couldn’t.

_Stop! Stop, please. It...hurts!_

It was a floodgate he couldn’t close. He let out another scream as the flames seemed to rage harder, in his desperation to make it stop it only seemed to grow worse. 

He wasn’t sure how long he had been there, lost in a sea of flames that ate away at him. He had already forgotten about the sludge villain, his only focus on what was happening. Even though there was no more slime being forced down his throat it was still hard to breathe. The air was hot and thick, it felt like with every breath he only took in flames. 

Without warning he felt a large hand grab him and a loud voice cut though his thoughts.

“Young man, please deactivate your Quirk!”

Quirk? No, that couldn’t be what this was, he didn’t have one.

He couldn’t get that part out, only managed a feeble, “I can’t…”

“Young man can you hear me?”

“I-I can’t!” He howled. “No...control!”

He heard a few garbled words he couldn’t make out, it took a moment before whoever had him spoke again.

“Apologies young man.”

He didn’t get a chance to question the owner of the voice before he felt a fist slam into his gut. He was only able to gasp for air before blacking out.

**-.-**

Izuku groaned as he began to rouse from unconsciousness, feeling someone lightly slapping the side of his face. The slapping stopped as he opened his eyes, vision blurred. 

“There you are young man, thought we lost you there! How are you feeling?” A familiar voice spoke to him. Izuku shook his head, trying to both place the name of the voice and shake away the pain the volume caused.

He coughed and pushed himself to sit up, everything hurt. His skin felt too hot, and he was pretty sure his abdomen was bruised with how it was feeling. There was also something else, a sort of emptiness in him. That strange feeling that had plagued him for most of his life now felt faint and quiet.

He stopped as he finally recognized the voice. He slowly looked up to see the Number 1 hero standing over him. His white shirt was burned on one side, seemingly to barely hold together.

He wanted to scream in surprise and scramble away, only managing a small yelp before devolving into a coughing fit. It felt like there were ashes in his throat.

“Woah there young man, calm down.” He felt the hero push a large bottle into his hands. “I have to thank you, you were a big help!” 

Izuku glanced down to the liter bottle of soda in his hands as the hero held out another liter bottle. That one was filled with green sludge, he could see the eyeballs floating around in there.

“I’ve captured the evil doer!”

Izuku had taken a small drink of the bottle, bringing instant relief to his throat, before going back to marvelling at the hero before him. 

_It’s All Might...it’s really him! Standing in front of me. He looks so much cooler in person!_

“H-Hold on can you please sign my notebook? I think I’ve got a pen around here somewhere!” He looked around frantically, seeing his notebook off to the side. He gasped and stood up to go over to it, only to feel the world tilt and fall to the ground again with a loud thud.

“Ah! Try not to move around too much young man, your Quirk certainly did a number not only on the villain, but to yourself as well.” He knelt down with the notebook in hand. “I understand that in stressful situations we tend to lose control but still, someone else could have gotten caught up in that.”

_My Quirk..?_

Izuku gave the hero a look of confusion before taking his notebook and hurriedly thumbing through it for a free page, only to make a noise of surprise as he found the hero’s signature.

“Woah! Thank you!” He managed to sit up again. “But...All Might sir, I don’t-”

“Now if you’ll excuse me young man I have to get this guy to the police station so they can deal with him. Be careful, see ya ‘round!” He secured the bottle into one of his pockets and began to walk away.

“But, h-hold on! I still have to-”

“Stand back, I’m taking off.” All Might announced, Izuku’s plea going unheard. The boy was still struggling to get to his feet. 

“Wait, I have to ask you-”

“Thanks for your continued support!” The hero took off, leaving Izuku alone. He stared at the sky, watching the hero fade into the distance.

_But I still had questions…_

Izuku sat there for a bit before sighing and falling into his back. So much for that…

Now that he wasn’t focused on something else he felt felt the intensity of how much everything _hurt_. He felt way too hot, though the breeze did help a bit.

He stopped and looked down, he shouldn’t have been able to feel the breeze. He gasped as he saw his black blazer burnt to a crisp. There was hardly anything left.

His white shirt was burnt badly, but at least enough for him to still be decent. The sleeves were gone. The bottoms of his pants were burnt as well, but at least they still had their length. 

He held up his arm to see a few light burns marring his arms, nothing too severe. 

He gulped as he got to his knees, packing his book back into his bag. The dizziness hadn’t gone away, though he hoped it would fade with time. 

_What was that?_

He stood on shaky legs, nearly falling over. He stumbled over to a wall for support. 

_How did I do that?_

There was no way that could have been him...he doesn’t have a Quirk! And how would it be _anything_ akin to whatever he did earlier? His mother had telekinesis and his father fire breath. 

Why now? Why would it appear now all of a sudden?

He couldn’t stop thinking about it as he may his way home best he could in his state. 

That fire storm, how the flames seemed to burn him from the inside out. A torrent of power, _raw energy_ he just couldn’t stop. It left him breathless, and...almost craving more. 

As much concern as he held for the strange power he couldn’t help but think how it felt right. Like a piece of him that had been returned.

“Oh man...how am I gonna tell mom about this?” He muttered. “Yeah mom I was attacked by a villain found out I had a Quirk! That’s not gonna go over well…”

He groaned and came to a stop when the spinning got too bad. He wanted to do nothing more than lay down and rest. Think on all of it later.

_You can’t do that here. Just get home._

He nodded to himself and clutched his backpack straps tightly. It wouldn’t take him too long to get home.

_I should be able to get there before sundown...maybe._

**-HoL-**

It was a loud buzzing that woke him up, stirring him from the deep sleep he collapsed into.

He groaned and fished for the source of the incessant buzzing, his phone. He looked at it through bleary eyes, unable to make out the contact information.

He pressed the answer button and held it to his ear. Not sure who on earth would be calling him.

“Hello..?”

“Izuku?!”

_Mom!_

He sat up in a hurry and looked around, finding himself in an alley. How did he get there?

“Izuku I was so worried! You didn’t come home and you weren’t answering your phone! Where are you? Are you okay?”

“S-Sorry mom!” He shouted, getting to his feet. “I uh, I ended up falling asleep in the park and yeah! I was really tired and...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He frowned, leaning against a wall.

“I’m just glad you’re okay. I was ready to send out a search party for you, hurry home okay sweetie? It’s already dark out, and I don’t want you out any longer than you have to be.” She sounded nervous, she had probably spent the last hours or so pacing back and forth.

“I won’t! Don’t worry mom, I’ll be home soon. Promise!”

“Okay, be careful.”

“I will!”

He waited a moment before hanging up with a sigh. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

“How did I get here?” He muttered, peeking out of the alleyway and looking around. Much to his horror, he was more near the downtown area than the park. He was a good distance from home. 

“You gotta be kidding me, first the sludge villain now this?” He whispered to himself. “Great I’m gonna make her worry even more now.” He stepped out after making sure his backpack still had everything. At least he hadn’t lost everything.

He sighed and shook his head. At least the dizziness was gone, and he felt much better after that impromptu nap. He didn’t feel as empty anymore, but that weird feeling wasn’t bothering him as much. 

He ran towards the busiest street he could find, it was better to stay in large groups and well lit areas. Lest those monsters snatch someone from the darker streets.

He tried his best to ignore the strange looks he got from strangers, he knew he looked like crap but there wasn’t much he could do about it. If he was lucky no one would stop him and ask him anything, he doubted anyone would believe that All Might saved him from a villain after he freaked out and unleashed...whatever that was. 

As he walked he felt some kind of hope spark in him. He had a Quirk now, he really _did_ have one. It took him a long time to get it to manifest but now...now he could definitely be a hero. He wasn’t a useless Deku anymore, he wasn’t Quirkless! Maybe that would make everyone stop teasing him.

Maybe, he still had to learn how to control it. He had no idea how to summon it let alone manipulate it. That would lead to a whole host of new problems.

_Useless Deku, he finally gets a Quirk and he can’t even use it!_

He could already hear Katsuki’s insults. It made that hope waver a bit, but it didn’t put it out. Maybe he’d be okay, if he worked hard at it he’d be good at using his Quirk in no time. Maybe just in time for the UA Entrance Exams.

_Don’t even try it, you’re gonna fail anyway._

He doesn’t know that, no one knew that. They couldn’t be certain, he might just succeed.

He groaned to himself, trying to push the possibilities out of his mind. The thought of even telling anyone, even Katsuki filled him with dread. They would demand he show them, he might try and end up hurting someone in the process. He cringed as he thought back to All Might, he had burned the man. He also burned himself, what if next time was even worse? What if he actually _killed_ somebody?

In his rollercoaster of thoughts he ended up crashing into someone and almost falling over. He had managed to stay on his feet, only to get pushed away and land on the ground.

“Watch where you’re going you...Deku.”

“Eep!” 

Izuku backed away and scrambled to his feet to get a look at who he offended. Katsuki, of course, just his luck.

“Uh...hi Kacchan?”

“What the hell are you doing here? Why do you look like shit?”

“I-I just am! I ended up here and uh...yeah. I’m heading home.” He kept his head down, feeling the eyes of people as they passed by. 

He waited, expecting some kind of yell of berating from the blonde.

“Tch. Whatever, go home loser!”

“I-I am...but you should too. It’s not safe to be out after dark Kacchan.”

“Get lost loser, I can take care of myself! I’m not useless like you are!” He yelled, glaring down at the boy. Even so the two walked in the same direction, keeping a reasonable distance between each other.

The two said nothing to each other, one occasionally looking to the other before looking away. The other keeping his gaze straight ahead.

“So what, you go somewhere just to get your ass kicked? The ass whooping I give you earlier wasn’t enough?” He snarled.

“N-No! Uh...it was a...I uh ran into a villain and yeah.” He fidgeted and played with his hands.

“How the hell are you even still alive Deku?” 

“...Luck?”

“Fuck off.”

Izuku flinched and looked slowed down so he was trailing behind Katsuki. He frowned and looked down, eyes catching the bag in Katsuki’s hand. A grocery bag, oh. That’s why he was out so late.

Neither said anything to the other, leaving them with a heavy, uncomfortable silence. They turned down a few different streets, slowly making their way home. Not as many people were out anymore, a lot of them hurrying inside or rushing into cabs.

Izuku sighed and looked at Katsuki before looking back ahead.

_Should I tell him…?_

He inwardly cringed at the thought. It could end badly, then again…

He at least wanted Katsuki to know, he didn’t know why he just did. He felt like maybe he _should_ know.

The events of earlier came back to him, and that thought was quickly put to rest. If Katsuki knew he had a Quirk he might actually beat him harder and more frequently. It might just make things worse. 

“Why are you still trailing after me loser? Go home!” Katsuki shouted, knocking Izuku out of his thoughts.

“I-I am Kacchan! But we kinda live near each other, a-and well it’s dangerous to be out at night alone with all the monsters and-”

“Shut up!” 

Izuku bit his lip and nodded, still following after him. He would hurry home ahead of him if he could, but that meant leaving Katsuki behind, and leaving him alone in the dark.

“I don’t need you to take care of me Deku, I can do that all on my own. Get lost.”

The street was mostly empty at this point, very few people were wandering around. No one was aware of the pale yellow eyes that stared at them from afar. The excited skittering that started up and crawled around the shadow.

“We shouldn’t split up...something could happen.” Izuku muttered.

“Yeah? And if it does, what? What are you gonna do? Run away like a damn coward?”

Izuku bit his lip. “There’s no need to be so mean Kacchan…”

“I’m just stating facts nerd.” He bit back.

Izuku frowned and rubbed at his arms. “Still though…”

“Still what nerd?”

“N-Nothing…”

_Maybe he_ **_won’t_ ** _treat as badly...what if he leaves me alone? I’d be just like everyone else._

Uncertainty swirled around in his thoughts, it was Kacchan. He was his best friend, it just felt right for him to know.

“Oi Deku.”

Izuku looked over.

“You better have taken what I said earlier seriously. If you’re still thinking about applying for UA I’ll kick your ass.” He growled. “ _I’m_ the one getting into UA, and showing everyone what I’m made of. You got that? You’ll just drag everyone down.”

Izuku looked to the side. “Y-You don’t know that…”

“Yeah, I do Deku. You’re Quirkless what the hell do you think you can do?”

“I-I don’t...I’m…”

“You can’t do shit Deku, you’re useless.” He hissed, getting in his face. “You’re just a Quirkless loser who can’t do shit!”

“What if...What if I’m not useless though…” Izuku bit his lip. “What if I _can_ do something?”

“As if loser!”

Izuku frowned as the sensation came back, once again writhing around inside of him. He looked down before looking back to Katsuki.

“But...maybe I _can_ Kacchan. Just...you know I-”

“Shut up Deku! When are you gonna get it through your head that you’re just so damn useless!”

“No I’m not Kacchan! Not anymore I-I...I-”

He was cut off with a shrill scream that sounded from down the street and caught the boys’ attention. The both looked over to see a woman running from a horde of the dark creatures.

Before the two could react a loud crash was heard from somewhere behind them.

They looked back to see another tide of monsters swooping in towards them. Izuku looked up and froze, trying to will himself to jump out of the way of the monsters, only to find his legs stuck in place.

_Move! Move!_

“Get out of the way nerd!” He felt a hard shove before falling to the ground. He looked up in surprise, paling as the world seemed to slow down.

He was only able to catch the look of horror, a flicker of fear in his eyes, as he was swept up by more of the creatures. The tide beginning to converge with more somewhere further down the street.

“Kacchan!” He screamed, watching the tide of darkness race to the others. 

He scrambled to his feet to see the stream of darkness that had taken his friend. Izuku could see faint flashes of light, making a few of the creatures go flying before rejoining the group. He could hear the shouts and yells of Katsuki screaming expletives and telling the monsters to let go of him.

He paled as he watched the creatures gather and converge in the middle of the street into a large black, writhing sphere. 

He could hear the screams of other people, and the explosions from Katsuki’s quirk. 

Izuku watched the creatures swirl around, yellow dots standing against the shadows as their claws raked and tore at the victims inside. 

“Kacchan…” Izuku muttered, he could see the small flashes of light. He was still yelling, he was still alive.

A loud siren snapped Izuku out of his frozen state and made him look around again, the alarm was on. That usually meant anyone in the area had to get out _now_. That also meant the heroes were on their way.

Guardian.

Guardian would be there too, she’d be there soon. She was the only one that could take on those monsters and make sure they stay gone. 

_But if there are a lot of heroes she might get scared of getting caught…_

It hadn’t stopped her before.

_What if she doesn’t come? What if the heroes don’t get here in time?_

That thought scared Izuku, just enough to take a few steps forward before someone grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“What are you doing kid? Get out of here!” It was Death Arms. “It’s not safe.”

Izuku stared at him for a moment before opening his mouth. “Th-There’s some-”

“You have to get out of here! It’s not safe for you.” Backdraft ran up. “Leave this area immediately, please young man.”

“But there’s-”

An enraged scream sounded out from the cluster of shadows, accompanied by a large explosions. Making the monsters startle, before becoming even more frenzied as some fell to the ground and scattered.

Izuku watched as a few tried to charge the heroes, only to get knocked back or thrown away.

“There’s someone in there!” A hero shouted.

“What?”

“That’s what I was trying to-”

“Kid, you have to go. Leave this to the pros!” He was shoved back as another stream of darkness came to try and snatch up the heroes. They managed to dodge it and knock more of them away.

Izuku backed up and dodged as best he could to avoid the monsters. He couldn’t run, he couldn’t bring himself to leave that place.

He yelped and ducked to avoid a few monsters, backing up and allowing one of the heroes to make a large swipe.

“We have to rescue whoever’s in there first.”

“How are we going to get him?”

“We need to clear some of them out before we can get to him! Knock them away.”

“No, we could hurt the boy.”

“DIE!” Another loud yell cut through their arguing, another large blast and a cry of pain following after.

_He’s reaching a limit…_

Izuku gasped as he felt panic begin to set in, his body feeling hot and cold at the same time, an electric sensation sparking over his skin. Putting an annoying buzzing in his head as he watched the heroes fight to keep the monsters at bay. 

He looked around at the top of buildings, Guardian should have shown up by now. She’s usually on top of stuff like this...unless this thing wasn’t the only one in the city.

_All Might!_

At least _he_ should be here. Maybe he could get Katsuki, those things have hardly ever touched him before. Surely he’d be able to get him out of there safely with no injury.

_What if he’s dealing with other villains? Other monsters? Does he even know any of this is happening?_

A small crowd had gathered around the area, those who hadn’t run away yet were watching in awe as the heroes danced around the large sphere of dark creatures. Still deciding what to do. The explosions had gotten weaker, not as frequent.

_They have to get him…_

Izuku looked around desperately, hoping and praying that one of the two heroes he looked up to would show up.

_They’ll be here soon enough. They’ll get Kacchan and save the day...he just has to hang on._

_And if they don’t?_

Izuku bit his lip, ignoring the shouts of the heroes telling him and the small late night crowd to run and get out of there. They should have cleared out by now and given the heroes the space they needed to work.

_I can’t leave...I’m not gonna leave him behind._

He grunted as that feeling intensified, something that told him to run and charge into the darkness. Something that spurred him on to run forward.

_You have a Quirk now...you’re not useless you can do something!_

_You’re being arrogant! You can’t even control it, you literally just figured out you had one afterall! You’re not a hero, that would be illegal, and you’d be causing trouble for the heroes…_

His eyes darted around as his heart raced, where were they? 

They were running out of time, he knew this. It was a heavy dread that sat in his gut, growing worse with every second. He began to wring his hands as he stared.

They just had to pull him out, then they could go all out. 

Izuku looked up as there was one more large explosion, from where he stood he could see Katsuki. Clawing and scratching his way out of there, reaching the surface for just a moment. He yelled while trying to drag himself out of there.

_Grab him...grab him and drag him out!_

“Get the hell off me!” He shouted. He was getting weaker, getting dragged back despite his best efforts.

“What are the heroes doing?”

“Oh my god there’s a kid in there!”

“This is really bad. Isn’t All Might in town? Where is he?”

“Where’s Guardian?”

“Maybe we should get out of there.”

Izuku shifted from foot to foot, his mind still racing at miles and minute trying to figure _something_ out.

Izuku looked back to the shadowy sphere to his best friend, the world stopped as he made eye contact with Katsuki.

He was terrified.

He didn’t register it at first, but he had raced forward. His legs moving on their own as he sped past the heroes and towards the shadows.

He heard the shouts of the heroes for him to get back, and asking what he was doing.

He saw a large stream of the creatures coming towards him, that only spurred him on.

“No! It’ll kill him!”

“Kid get back here!”

Izuku ignored them, throwing himself to the side before getting back to his feet and running towards the sphere.

He could still see Katsuki, he wasn't gone yet.

“Kacchan!” He screamed, reaching out a hand and jumping forward.

He felt Katsuki grab onto his hand, before both were dragged inside. The outside world becoming mute.

“Deku...you little bastard!”

Izuku said nothing as he felt onto Katsuki for dear life, his mind racing for a solution. He grunted as he received a light punch on his head. 

The darkness swirled around them as the creatures swiped and scratched at them before returning to their fold. It was like being in the eye of the storm, a moment of calm before a tide of creatures came to attack them.

Izuku did his best to shield his friend from the attacks, he had to get them out of there. Or at least Katsuki, he wasn’t sure how much more the boy could take.

Izuku shouted as another wave tore through them, earning new wounds.

They were pushed and tossed around in there, the creatures obscuring their vision from the outside world. Izuku thought he caught glimpses of the heroes, if he could just toss Katsuki out of there…

They yelled as another wave crashed into them, seemingly adamant about killing them off. 

“Get off me...you damn nerd!”

Izuku yelled as they were crashed into again and tossed in a different direction. 

_Maybe I can…_

Izuku gasped as he saw another wave coming, he grunted as he positioned them so he’d take the brunt of the hit. 

As they went flying Izuku roughly pushed him out where he could briefly see the heroes.

“Kacchan go!” He yelled, getting caught in another wave.

Katsuki didn’t get any time to yell or react before being thrown out of the cluster and onto the street at the feet of the heroes.

He grunted and scrambled to his feet, seeing the sphere grow more agitated it seemed. He could hear any shouts from inside.

“Deku you little bastard!” He was about to run forward when a hero grabbed him and demanded he get back.

From inside Izuku was on a new form of panic, getting tossed around like a rag doll and clawed into like there was no tomorrow. If this kept up then that’s certainly be the case for him.

He was caught in a moment of calm, for just a second. He could see all the creatures writhing and skittering over each other. Yellow eyes honed in on him.

It took him back to a different time. Where he was younger and helpless. Someone had saved him then, who was going to save him now!

He braced himself for another wave and met out a cry of pain, with only seemed to spur them on as another wave came, then another.

_I have to get out...I can’t do anymore!_

The sensation grew worse, burning and freezing and sparking all around him. Begging to be let out.

_How do I use you?_

Izuku felt it grow worse, back to unbearable. 

_What if I hurt someone?_

He yelled as he was tossed around.

_What if I die…?_

_You will if you don’t do something!_

What could he do? How would he do it? The heroes weren’t coming, All Might and Guardian were who knows where!

He cried out again as he took another hit. Everything hurt, he figured he didn’t have a lot of time left before they would finish him off.

He stared at the sea of shadows before him, his mind racing and looking for answers. Something he could use, anything!

His panic was getting worse by the second, being knocked around and clawed into was making him desperate. He screamed as a large group converged on him, the cluster of shadows growing smaller and denser from the outside.

_Stop._

They swarmed around him, ignoring the drop in temperature.

_Stop!_

He flailed around, kicked and hit whatever he could.

_Stop it!_

He thought he heard someone from the outside.

_I don’t want to die…_

There was ice and fire beneath his skin, a sensation he somewhat recognized from earlier.

He felt tears stream down his face as he looked at an oncoming wave. He wouldn’t be able to survive that, there was no way.

He whimpered and wrapped his arms around himself to stop the chill that had settled into his bones.

_I don’t want to die!_

It was like the air had been knocked out of him, ice raced through his veins as the temperature dropped dramatically. 

From the outside others could feel a slight drop in temperature.

Katsuki glared at the cluster of monsters, pausing when he thought he saw a small shimmer in the midst of it all.

“What the…”

A loud scream cut through the mutters of the crowd and the shouts of the heroes. Everyone looked up to the cluster of monsters, staring in surprise as a frost began to cover the monsters. They began to slow down, before ice covered a large majority of them.

Katsuki felt his eye twitch as the scream intensified, ice flaring around and making the air colder. A few heroes stepped back in surprise, some of the crowd running away.

The sphere had been seemingly frozen over, a few of them still moving around and swirling around what seemed to be the source. Deku’s screaming had stopped after a moment.

“There’s no fucking way…” He muttered, staring straight ahead. “You damn nerd…” He took a weak step forward, glaring angrily at the sphere. “I’m gonna kill you, you little bastard!”

He yelled as he took off, shaking off a hero that grabbed him. He grunted at the aching of his arms, he was confident that he messed them up in his desperation to get away.

“No! Get back here it’s still dangerous!” One of the heroes ran after him as he brought his hands up and grit his teeth. 

“DIE!” He shouted, hands sparking for a moment before one more large explosion was set off. Sending smoke billowing into the sky, and an ear piercing shatter through the area. Everyone ducked as ice went everywhere and a cloud of darkness rose up from a large amount of deceased monsters.

Katsuki yelled in pain and held his arms, it hurt to even _move_ them. He stumbled back and looked up to see Izuku go flying in the other direction and landing hard on the street. It was hard to tell if he was breathing.

“Holy…”

“Did that kid just-”

“Get down!”

Katsuki looked up to see a few more monsters, not as many as before. They all swirled around each other before splitting off into two more groups. A final attack.

Katsuki looked up to see one large wave heading towards him, while the other raced towards the body on the street.

He grunted as he raised his stiff arms, biting his lip as he stared down the monsters.

Izuku was barely able to prop himself on his elbows to see the oncoming swarm, ready to swallow him again.

Before either group could crash into their victims two heroes appeared. 

Rather, a hero and a vigilante.

Katsuki didn’t get a chance to react before the number one hero threw himself in front of the boy.

“There is no need to fear. Because I am here!” He yelled, one hand forming into a fist. “Detroit...SMASH!” He bellowed out, throwing a fist forward and with a large gust of wind he sent the demon tide away. Scattering all the creatures and sending them running.

Izuku couldn't marvel at All Might for the second time in the same day, the fear of death still before him. Just as it was about to come crashing down on him a familiar armored body appeared in front of him and raised her hands.

A clear sphere appeared around then, deflecting the attack. Without a word she snapped her fingers and made the barrier explode, knocking back the tide. She summoned her strange weapon and raised it.

“Thundaga!”

A large bolt of lightning appeared over her and striking down from the sky. Making the rest of the monsters dissipate. Much to his surprise, Izuku hadn’t been harmed in the slightest attack. Expecting a shock of some kind to himself.

She stood there for a moment, staring at the crowd at the other side of the street. There was the sound of thunder rumbling in the sky. 

She turned away as a loud cheer was heard, followed by another until whatever was left of the crowd was shouting and crying their praises. Guardian faced Izuku and knelt down, looking over his injuries.

“Look at you, all roughed up. Couldn’t stay out of trouble could you?” She asked, raising her hand with a small green glow.

“Guardian…” he mumbled, shivering violently.

“Shh, I’m sorry I couldn’t get here earlier.” She murmured, small petals of light falling around him and healing whatever injuries they touched. 

“Y-You’re here…” He tried to sit up, hardly able to move a muscle.

“You used so much more energy than you had. Try not to move.” She reached into a small pouch around her waist and pulled out what looked like a small blue stone. 

She lightly tossed it above him, he flinched and expected it to hit him. Only for it to dissolve and fall over him, some of the exhaustion wore off. Not all of it, but he didn’t feel like passing out anymore.

He was still shivering, frost and bits of ice covering his arms and face.

“I-Is Kacchan ok-okay?” He asked. “He’s...He’s the-“

“Everyone on the other side looks like they’re doing just fine.” She helped him sit up before taking off her cape and draping it over him.

There was this tension around her he could sense. This nervousness that made her move quickly.

“You-You should go.” Izuku shuddered. “T-The heroes…”

“I’ll be fine, it’s my job to help people isn’t it?”

“But-“

“Guardian! I see we have crossed paths again!” All Might could be heard somewhere behind her.

“Damn it…” she sighed. “Looks like it’s time for me to go. Be careful.” She whispered before standing up.

“All Might! It’s good to see you too, it looks like you have everything under control. So I guess I’ll take my leave.”

“Now hold on young lady.”

“Sorry, you know how it is. Wanted by the law for illegal activity despite bringing peace. Bye!”

“Now hold on.”

She was already gone. 

Izuku didn’t even see her take off, surprisingly All Might hadn’t gone after her but instead stood over the shivering boy.

“Didn’t think we’d meet again young man.”

“...Hi.”

“The heroes told me what you did young man. That was very reckless.” 

Izuku looked down, ready to be scolded by his idol.

“But it was very brave as well.”

Izuku stared at him for a moment before the hero coughed into his hand.

“Take care young man. Be careful on your way home.” He turned around and rushed off.

**-.-**

He was scolded by the heroes that had arrived on the scene, told his he was reckless and could have gotten himself and others killed. He should have just stayed back and let them handle it. 

They said he was lucky they weren’t going to charge him for illegal Quirk usage. 

Meanwhile he could hear praises for Katsuki, saying how powerful his Quirk was and how brave he was for being able to withstand being in there as long as he had. 

Izuku couldn't help but let it bother him as he walked home. The heroes escorted them until a certain point, then the boys split off. 

Katsuki wouldn’t look at Izuku it even yell at him. He was quiet through the entire walk. It wasn’t until they were about to split off when Izuku had tried to speak to him.

“Kacchan...are you-”

“Shut up Deku.” He didn’t yell. His voice was quiet, he kept his head down. “Get out of home and get lost you damn nerd.”

“Kacchan-”

“Get lost loser! Before I fucking kill you! Don’t think I owe you anything!”

Izuku stepped back, looking the boy up and down. 

“I-I wasn’t...I just want to know if you’re-”

Katsuki narrowed his eyes and raised his hand, making Izuku back up a bit.

“Get. Lost.”

Izuku stared at him for a moment before nodding and backing up, careful not to turn his back until Katsuki was gone.

He was fine, he was okay, he was alive. So was Izuku.

Izuku sighed and walked forward, he rubbed at his eyes and looked ahead. A bone deep exhaustion set in, not as bad as the first time. He figured he wasn’t going to collapse again, at least not until he got home.

“Oh man, mom’s gonna be so worried…” He muttered to himself. “I should’ve been home hours ago…”

He would have to apologize to her as she fretted over him, asking why he was so beaten up.

And then there was the discussion of his Quirk. _That_ was going to be a whole other host of issues. His mom might be happy, yeah, but when she hears how he found out about it she’ll probably pass out from shock.

His Quirk.

It was a weird thing, it made him nervous to use it, but it was also a welcome thing. Twice he had used it, and both times he had lost control. Both times he nearly passed out and had to be saved by someone.

As troublesome as it was, he couldn’t deny how _strange_ it felt. Was a Quirk supposed to feel like that? Something that almost felt sentient in a way?

The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t help but think of Guardian.

At first he had assumed his Quirk was just something akin to fire manipulation. A balanced mix of his father and mother’s Quirks. The ice was definitely a surprise, it just... _came out_. It was almost the same as Guardian’s in a way.

Elemental manipulation, that’s what her supposed Quirk was. No one was sure what to make of her strange Key-shaped weapon. A lot thought it was a support item of some sort, though no one knew what it was necessarily for.

“It’s a weapon, a pretty important one at that.” A voice spoke up.

Izuku froze in place before looking to the side, seeing the vigilante walking beside him. He couldn’t see her expression beneath her helmet, but he was confident she was wearing an amused smile.

“Gah!” He jumped back in surprise, earning a small laugh.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. You had been mumbling to yourself, thought it would be nice to let you get your thoughts out.” She said. 

“O-Oh...uh. Thank you…” He muttered, shuffling from foot to foot. “U-Uh for saving me.”

“There’s no need to thank me. It’s my job remember?”

“Yeah…”

Izuku looked around.

“Uh, is there something you...oh! Your cape! Here, I don’t really need it anymore. You probably want it back, I-I’m feeling better, not as cold. Uh-”

“It’s okay, there’s no need to worry. Thank you, but that’s not what I came here for.”

“Huh?”

Izuku looked up in surprise. “Er...then what did you come here for?”

“I heard about the fight with the creatures, how a friend of yours had gotten snatched up.”

She knew? How though?

“I also heard that you jumped in to save him, even with what little control you had over your power. And you got yourself hurt in the process.”

Izuku looked down, readying himself for another scolding. All Might didn’t give him one, surely she was going to. Maybe that’s what she was going to do before All Might approached them. 

“You did well, though I will admit you could have done better, but that’s not necessarily your fault.”

She took a deep breath and crossed her arms. Muttering something to herself at first.

“You don’t have a lot of control over it, your power. It flares out when you panic, and you can’t quite control the output.” She hummed.

Izuku frowned. That was the last thing he needed to be told, he already knew that.

“I-I know...and I might’ve hurt someone. A-All Might, he had to knock me unconscious earlier.”

She faltered for a moment before looking at him. “Earlier?”

“Yes ma’am. He uh, saved me from a villain...or maybe from myself. I just…” He took a shaky breath, thinking back to the sensation. “There was fire everywhere. I think I hurt him before I passed out.” He began to fiddle with his hands. “I’m sorry…”

She was silent for a moment. “No, no it’s not your fault. You didn’t have anyone to help teach you control.”

Izuku looked up, then looked back down as she walked forward. Stopping in front of him and holding a hand out. “Maybe I should just cut to the chase. I’m not exactly sure how to say this.”

“What do you mean?” He asked. 

Without a word she raised her hand a bit before producing a small flame. Izuku gasped and stared at it, watching it shift and bend before growing a bit smaller and hopping around her hand before dancing from fingertip to fingertip.

He was mesmerized by the display, snapped out of it when she closed her fist and snuffed out the flame.

“Your power, considering the shape you’re in it’s probably safe to assume it’s finally manifested right?”

“R-Right.”

“The kind of power you have, a power I share as well, is very versatile.”

“You share?” He muttered. 

“That’s right, I’m aware that you’ve seen quite a few of my battles with the creatures of darkness. You’ve seen what I can do, you’ve seen the immense power I can wield at any time. Granted I have a limit too.”

Izuku stared at her in surprise, looking her up and down. He wasn’t quite sure where she was going with this.

She was quiet for a moment before looking to him again.

“Tell me, do you remember me? From when you were small, you couldn’t have been older than 5.”

“O-Of course!” He raised his voice. “Of course I remember you. You-You saved me, in the forest after I was left behind. You brought me home.”

She nodded. “That’s right. Do you remember what you told me?”

“Uh...I mean…”

“You wanted to be a hero, you wanted to save people. Like All Might, like...myself. Do you still have that dream?” She asked.

Izuku stared at her before nodding. “Yes...I do. I wanna be a hero that smiles when he saves the day. I want to reassure everyone around me, and let them know they’re safe when I’m around. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. But I can’t really control my Quirk. What if I end up hurting someone with it?”

She nodded. “You never lost sight of your dream. That good, that’s very good. What if I told you that your dream isn’t far away?”

Izuku startled and look up. “How?”

He could practically see the smile beneath the helmet. 

“Please, tell me your name.” She asked, standing tall.

“My name?”

“Yes.”

“...Izuku. Izuku Midoriya.” He answered.

She nodded before raising her hands to her helmet and slowly taking it off. A few locks of hair falling from the messy bun her hair was in.

“Izuku Midoriya, my name is Master Aqua.” She looked at him with a soft smile. Kind blue eyes that seemed to carry _something_ in them. Something he couldn’t quite place. Hesitance? Reassurance? It was hard to identify.

She held her hand out to him with a smile.

“I want to take you on as my pupil. If you’ll have me as your Master.”

From afar a skeletal man watched with dismay as the young man took her hand, nodding fervently and wiping away the beginnings of tears from his eyes.

“Shit…” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discord:
> 
> https://discord.gg/UWtM2he


	3. Master and Student

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of 2

**Master and Student**

  
  


He was nervous.

Nervous, and maybe excited? It was hard to tell, either way, his stomach was doing flips as he approached the location she had sent him. 

After Izuku burst into tears and agreed to be taken on as Guardian’s pupil they exchanged contact information. She promised to message him a few days later, and she kept that promise. Sending him a location one Saturday morning with nothing else.

While he made his way towards the quieter part of town it had actually hit Izuku, everything that had transpired.

He agreed to be a student of a vigilante. A student of a person who is wanted by the law despite her good deeds. The same person who saved him years ago wanted to give him a chance now.

She probably had a plan to keep them from getting caught by any means, she had been able to avoid the authorities for 10 years now. She wouldn’t let them get caught.

Izuku hummed to himself as he looked around, the street was relatively empty. It made sense, it was the not so nice side of the city in the daytime. He glanced down at his phone, he was close to the location. 

He was surrounded by what one would normally assume were abandoned buildings. Just waiting to be torn down at some point. Well apparently not all of them were abandoned he realized as he stopped in front of an old building. 

If he had to guess it might have been some kind of office building, maybe an old hotel. It was hard to tell, from outside the five floors looked rather bare. 

Izuku looked back down to his phone and confirmed he was indeed at the right spot. He would knock if he could...but there was no door. At least none facing the street, it looked like it was sealed off.

He stood there in confusion for a bit, torn on whether or not to message her he was there. Should he? Would it be considered rude? What if she was doing something?

Before he could think too much on it Izuku heard a small thud from an alley off to the side. He jumped and looked in that direction. He frowned and moved towards it, tensing up as he peeked around the side. 

He had been expecting a cat that had knocked something over, maybe even a homeless person. 

He wasn’t expecting to see a strange creature poking out of a hole in a wall. It was small, white, and looked like a plush. It had an antenna with a large red ball at the end, a pink nose, and a pair of purple bat-like wings.

He gasped as the creature looked around and caught sight of him. The two stared at each other for a moment, one silent and the other opening and closing his mouth.

“You’re here!” It squeaked.

“I-I’m...huh? What?” Izuku sputtered before the creature disappeared back into the building. “W-Wait! Wait, hold on what…” He looked around before making his way into the alley. Approaching the hole in the wall that was covered by a ragged cloth and a sheet of metal. 

He moved the metal sheet just enough that he could squeeze inside. He yelped as he fell over, causing a loud crash. 

He groaned and sat up, rubbing where his face hit the floor. 

“Ow…”

He looked up to see his surroundings, only to see more of those strange creatures. Some looked smaller than others, a few had this more aged look about them. They had stopped whatever they were doing to get a look at the intruder. He could feel his face grow warm as he felt their eyes on him. 

“Uh...hi?” He tried, giving a small wave. 

“Hello!” One greeted, waving back. 

A few started whispering to each other, some gesturing towards him then at the stairs on the other side of the room. 

Izuku got to his feet and backed up a bit. What were these creatures? They didn’t seem hostile, but he had never seen anything like them before. They were small compared to him, barely coming up to his knees. 

He wanted to ask what they were, but that seemed rude. How do you just go up to someone and say, ‘Hello, nice to meet you. By the way, what are you?’

He walked around the room, trying to find a space that would make him stand out less. As he moved around he got a glance of someone peeking down at him from the stairs. They made eye contact, and before he could offer any greeting they gasped and up the stairs.

Izuku faltered before making his way over while doing his best to stay out of everyone’s way. He got to the stairs and went up a few steps. 

“Hello?” He asked, getting no answer. He stared at the stairs, hesitant to go up. Izuku took another glance around the room, only to see one of the creatures still watching him and gesturing to go up.

He took the hint and ascended the stairs, moving slowly out of fear of disturbing something. It took no time to get to the second floor, it looked cleared out as well. A few doors here and there that led to who knows where. 

Though his main concern was that no one was there. Maybe the person he saw decided to hide. He wouldn’t exactly blame them, he was kind of intruding.

“T-There. He’s the stranger.” A quiet voice spoke, he looked over to the other side of the room to see Guardian in civilian clothing. A simple sweater and jeans. Hiding behind her was a little girl with gray hair. Wide red eyes looked over him in fear, on the right side of her forehead a brown horn poked out.

Guardian and Izuku stared at each other for a moment before she smiled and looked down at the girl.

“Eri, remember how I said someone would be coming over at some point? How I took on a student?”

Eri nodded. “That’s him?”

“That’s him.”

“Uh, hello.” Izuku murmured.

“Hi.”

There was an awkward silence before Aqua patted her back. “Alright, why don’t you go downstairs and eat something?”

“Okay.”

Eri looked at Aqua then at Izuku and hurried off.

Izuku watched her hurry down before looking at Guardian. “H-Hello. I uh, I’m sorry I scared her. I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay, she’s a little jumpy around strangers but she’ll get used to you.” She smiled, quiet for a moment. “You look better than the last time I saw you. Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah, I am. Thank you.” He nodded. That feeling had come back, wanting to be let out and unleashed into the world again. It didn’t feel violent, moreso excited if anything. He had been shocking himself all week, what he chalked up to static...but figured he might be wrong in that regard. 

He probably was.

He kicked at the ground before speaking again. “So...So are we going to start training t-today? Or uh…” 

“Well, I suppose today  _ can _ be considered your first day. But I don’t want to start anything physical yet.” She answered, waving him over. “Today is more of...filling you in. There’s a lot, and quite honestly as my student, you’re entitled to know all this.”

“Uh, know all this?” He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

Aqua sighed and started heading to the other side of the room. “Come on, it might be best if we sit down for this.”

Izuku bit his lip and followed, his unease spiking again. What was it she had to tell him? Was it a warning? Rules? Well, she might have those, she was a vigilante and couldn’t afford to get caught by heroes. Not when she was their only defense against those dark creatures.

“You’re not gonna find out if you just stand there muttering to yourself.” She clapped, getting his attention back. 

“Oh! I’m sorry!” He apologized and hurried after her to a table where she set out bottles of water and sat down. He stood at the table awkwardly for a moment before shuffling over to a chair and sitting down. 

He was tense and rigid in his movements, afraid of doing something wrong. Afraid of giving her a reason to drop him as her student before they really began.  What if he did or said something that offended her?

Izuku fiddled with his hands, keeping his head down and refusing to look at her for the moment. There was a moment of silence between them before Izuku coughed. 

“So, uh...what is it that you have to tell me?” He asked quietly.

“You see that’s where I’m thinking, where to start.” She answered, tapping a finger on the table. “There’s a lot to go over, and I won’t lie a lot of what I’m going to tell you you won’t believe. Not at first.”

Izuku nodded and looked up at her. “Okay, so keep an open mind?” He asked.

“Yes.”

She took a deep breath and sighed, rubbing her eyes. “Alright, let’s start here.” She sat up and looked him in the eye. “Tell me, what do you know about the dark creatures that I fight?”

“Uh, well they’ve been around for a long time now. They go after people at random and they’re all over the world at this point. Though some locations have more concentrated areas of the creatures. Heroes had been trying for a long time to get rid of them, especially here in Japan. Then one day about 10 years ago you appeared and you cut them down. And they didn’t come back.” He scratched his face. “Does it have something to do with your Quirk?” 

Aqua leaned back. “Well, it has something to do with my power. It’s not a Quirk, what residents of this world call their own powers.”

Izuku blinked. “This world?”

Aqua nodded. “Yes well, in all honesty, I’m what you call Quirkless.”

There was a beat of silence.

“B-But you have powers. That doesn’t make sense, how can you have powers if you’re Quirkless? That’s not possible. And what do you mean by ‘residents of this world’?” He asked.

Aqua sighed. Well, at least she was getting onto the subject now, no turning back.

“First off, yes it is possible to be Quirkless and have powers. I’m a living example of that, you are too. Now, before you ask any more questions, let me get to the ones you’ve already thrown out.”

Izuku closed his mouth.

Aqua held out her hand and summoned her weapon with a small flash of light. She smiled and placed it on the table for him to look at. “This is something called a Keyblade, I suppose you could say it’s the source of my power.”

She watched Izuku lean forward and look over it, tilting his head and murmuring to himself. 

“How is it your source of power?” Izuku asked. “Is it some kind of tech that manipulates the molecules around you that allows you to make those elements?”

“Nope,” Aqua answered. She held up a hand and created a small flame, grabbing Izuku’s attention. “It’s magic.”

Izuku stared at her, that feeling in him almost coming alive at the word, like something had just been realized. “Magic?” He asked. “That’s…” He could feel the logical part of his mind shorting out. “But that’s...magic isn’t real?” He said, looking over the Keyblade.

Aqua watched him look over the Keyblade in disbelief. She wasn’t expecting him to just accept it right off that bat, she knew better. In a world where powers had a logical explanation other than just saying it’s ‘magic’, it was going to take a moment for him to accept that.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. How can I…” She hummed, looking around. “Oh, a good example. I was being chased by Eraserhead once.” She started.

“Oh yeah, I saw a video of that…”

“Yeah well I found out he can cancel out Quirks, his hair is his tell. It goes up when his powers activate.”

Izuku nodded, thinking back to the footage. “His hair was up a majority of the time you were being chased. And even then you still used ice to block his path, and...if I’m assuming right if this was to say your Quirk. Your Keyblade should have vanished. But it didn’t.” He stared at the weapon as if it would provide some sort of answer.

“Remember when I said keep an open mind.” She reminded him.

Izuku took a deep breath. “O-Okay. So, magic is real. Magic is a thing, and I have it?” He asked.

Aqua nodded. “Yes, you do. I was there in time to see the tail end of your use. When you froze those creatures over. You were exhausted because you didn't know how to control your output, and you used more energy than you have.”

Izuku was still thinking over this whole magic possibility. It seemed... _ mostly _ possible. Then again he was talking to someone who regarded people here as ‘this world’s residents’. His power wasn’t anything like his mother or father’s. 

The words came out before he could really process them. “Are you an alien or something?”

The two were quiet for a moment before Aqua put her hand over her mouth and started to laugh.

Izuku felt his face grow warm.

“I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry I don’t mean to laugh, but the seriousness in your voice…”

“I-It’s a reasonable question! You’re saying ‘this world’s residents’ which just makes me think y-you’re not from this world. Which would explain your whole...magic I guess.” He muttered quickly and fiddled with his hands. 

“I’m sorry, I suppose it would. And no, I’m not an alien.” She went on to answer the question. “I’m human, just like you. I just happen to be from a world that’s not this one, where humans exist too.”

“Okay, and you got this Keyblade from...another world?” Izuku asked, he was starting to worry if this was a good choice. “Where did you…”

“I didn’t really get it from somewhere, moreso that I was worthy of it.”

Izuku looked down. Worthy? He had to be worthy to get one? Worthy to use this power that she has too?

He gripped the hem of his shirt. “I have to be worthy? H-How do…”

“Your powers are already manifesting.” She spoke up, quick to assure him. “Your magic is proof of that, it’s the first step. At least yours. Everyone starts different.”

Izuku sighed. “How did you start?” He asked.

“Same as you actually, my magic came out in bursts. Granted a bit smaller than yours.” 

He looked down and tapped a finger on the desk. Small bursts of magic. He was still trying to wrap his head around this whole concept of magic, but the more he thought about it the more it started to make sense.

This world where everything was run by logic and science, everything had a logical explanation. Then one day those dark creatures had shown up out of nowhere. There was no Quirk in existence that could be powerful enough to swarm the entire world, not to mention there was no end to them. Everyone had a limit, and these monsters were endless. 

Heroes couldn’t make them disappear, if they did manage to take one out it would just come back. Then there was Guardian who was able to take them out in one go, they never came back. Ever since she had appeared the monsters had calmed down with the occasional flare-up here and there. Her power wasn’t a Quirk, Eraserhead’s fight could be used as evidence. And the weapon didn’t seem to hold anything that could be used to manipulate the air particles to create any form of ice, fire or the like.

“Okay, so magic I can understand.” He sighed. “But I still can’t understand...other worlds. Just, how does that work? Is it like another planet? You said there are other humans, so they’re planets like this? How did you get here, what made you come here in the first place? Was it those creatures?” He started to ramble on again, shooting off one question after another to her.

Aqua listened to him for a short while. He was curious, that was a good thing she supposed. He was eager to learn, even if it was a bit hard to wrap his head around everything at first.

“One thing at a time.” She stopped him, giving a small smile as he covered his mouth. 

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, I understand it’s a lot. You’re going to have a lot of questions, but I can only answer so many at a time. Okay, so I’m not from another planet I understand it seemed that way but it’s not. It’s...another world. It’s not like the other worlds are in space like you might think, there are gateways that can take you from one world to the lanes between that lead you to the other worlds. Each one is unique in their own way, this is the only world I’ve seen where everyone possesses a power of some kind.”

“So, it’s not like breaching the atmosphere and going into space? Like, at all?” He asked. 

“No, not at all. Think of it more like having to take a portal to...hold on let me see if I can draw it out.” She got up and went to the other side of the room, coming back with a piece of paper and a pen.

She sat down and drew a few circles around the paper, making small designs within them. Then she drew a line around the circles, making sure they were connected. 

“So, say this one is your world. In order to get out you need to make a small portal and pass through it to get out here.” She drew a small oval next to a circle and made an arrow pointing at the lines. “And from here you can go anywhere you want, then you pass through another portal and enter a world when you get there. Does it make sense like this?”

Izuku gently took the paper and looked over it. 

Ok, so different realms. That was...that was certainly something. That meant the monsters came from somewhere else, but where? How many worlds were out there? How exactly does one make their way from world to world?

“So are you from one that’s nearby?” He asked. “I-Is there like a-a map where you keep track of the worlds that are around and what you’ve seen?” He bit his tongue before he could ask any more questions. He was motormouth and he knew this, best not to annoy her anymore with his mumbles.

“...No, I’m from far away and I don’t have a map. I didn’t get here like one normally would get to a world.” She turned her eyes down for a moment.

“Normally?” He asked.

Aqua said nothing before shaking her head. “It’s not important right now, that’s another subject we can go over at a later date.” 

Izuku opened his mouth, then closed it. Seeing how she shook off the question, he had no right to press further.

She was silent for a bit before taking a deep breath. “So, any more questions? Or are you ready to move on?”

“A lot of questions.” He admitted.

Aqua smiled. “Well, go ahead and ask away.”

They spent hours talking, backtracking once or twice to make sure he understood something. Aqua had to leave Izuku a few times to tend to something going on downstairs, making sure nothing would descend into chaos. 

It all seemed so complicated and unbelievable, but it somehow made sense in a way. The creatures downstairs were called Moogles. Merchants that sold anything you could imagine, they went into hiding for a few years because of the cruelty of humans. However in recent years they had started to emerge again, but never strayed too far from home just in case.

The dark monsters that have been terrorizing their world are called Heartless. Monsters that were born from the darkness in humans’ hearts, their souls. 

That had led to the question of the heart. In which he found out that if it was strong enough they’d be deemed worthy for a Keyblade. He was surprised to hear that he was considered worthy at all, that he was strong enough. He certainly didn’t feel that way…

Then there was the fact that he couldn’t tell anyone  _ any _ of this because of something called the World Order. In order to keep everything at peace and to prevent any possible conflict between worlds those who were entitled to this knowledge were to keep it to themselves. No one else was to know. 

So everything he just learned, he has to keep to himself. 

No one else can know, and no one else  _ will _ know.

“Do you want to know anything else?” She asked. It was a bit later in the day, Izuku still had some time before he had to start heading home.

“I think I’m good for now…” He muttered, it was still a lot to take in. He had a feeling he was going to have to get used to that. 

She nodded. “Well then, let’s move on to something else.” She stood up. “Come on, I’m going to show you something.”

“O-Okay!” He stood up and trailed after her, heading downstairs. While they walked he took a glance at the time. He had an hour or two before he had to start heading back, plenty of time. 

Aqua hummed as she pulled her hood up and reached into a drawer for a mask. “I’m heading out, I’ll be back soon.” She announced, walking towards their makeshift door when Eri ran up.

“‘Are you going to the field?” She asked

Aqua nodded, smiling as the girl beamed. “Can I come?”

“If you throw on your shoes and a jacket real quick then yes.” 

Eri took off without another word, racing up the stairs.

“Be careful!” Aqua called after her before sighing.

Izuku stayed quiet as they waited, seeing a few of the Moogles walk past them.

“Hello, kupo!” One greeted before walking out the door with a bag. 

“Where are…?”

“He’s just heading over to his usual spot to sell stuff. You know what time to be back.” Aqua reminded him.

“I know, bye-bye!” 

Izuku raised an eyebrow. “Kupo?” 

“It has a lot of meanings, but it’s overall a way of acknowledgment.” She explained.

“Oh.”

“I’m here!” Eri called as she ran down the stairs and up to Aqua. Wearing a red coat with the hood up. The shoes were a similar shade of red as well.

“What have I told you about running up and down the stairs?” Aqua asked, holding out a hand for her to take.

“Not to…” Eri mumbled.

Aqua nodded. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.” 

Eri nodded and Aqua turned to Izuku. “Alright then, let's get going.”

**-.-**

“What’s this place?” Izuku asked, looking around the open field. It was a lot farther away than he thought it would be. 

They had gone through a few backroads and different streets that were a lot more merit than he thought they’d be. 

“This is where we’re gonna be training for a while,” Guardian answered. “You can’t quite control your output, and this is the best place to practice until you get a good grip on it. It’s open and no one ever comes out this far.” She looked across the field to see Eri a short way away.

Running around and chasing something they couldn’t see.

“I actually train here whenever practicing big spells, so no one gets hurt. Also gives us plenty of space in case something goes a little wrong.”

“I see…” Izuku walked in a circle, it would take him a bit to get there. But it was a commitment he was willing to make. “So, when do we start?” He asked.

“Tomorrow, first thing.”

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


They were two weeks into training, and Izuku had thrown himself all in. 

Training was hell, and it was a sign for how far he really had to go. 

Master Aqua put him through endurance and muscle training, saying that the physical state of a Keyblade Wielder is just as important as everything else. He couldn’t just rely on one aspect of his power and hope it would be enough. 

She had him run laps around the large field, push-ups, sit-ups, and other exercises. Sometimes they spend an entire day on that kind of training. She doesn’t necessarily make him run on his own, she would run beside him to help set a pace. 

If it wasn’t the physical exercises, then it was combat training. She started him off on hand to hand, which only went so well. 

He had never been in a fight, and he voiced that worry to her.

“It’s training, it’s not like I’m going to go all out. Let’s just see what we can work on okay?”

She knocked him flat on his back within seconds. He wasn’t even able to throw a punch in the time it took to take him down. 

But it was okay, she said, it was just another thing to train on. 

She had assured him they would move on to fighting with weapons once he was a bit more comfortable with hand to hand. 

Then there was magic training. An exercise that took place almost every day whether he liked it or not. Sometimes it was talking it out, and other times it was putting what was discussed into practice.

“So you’ve used your magic two times now, right?” Gua-  _ Master _ Aqua asked. 

“Yeah, that’s right.” Izuku nodded. “And both times I had panicked. The sludge villain, and the Heartless.”

“Magic can flare out as an emotional response.” Aqua nodded. “That’s normal for a beginner, it happens all the time. But as you get better at handling your magic, it won’t happen as often.” She held out a hand as a small block of ice appeared.

“Can some elements flare out differently from person to person?” Izuku asked, absentmindedly writing on his palm with his finger. Notes for later.

“It can, yes. When I was young ice would trail after me whenever I was excited and ran around all over the place. Then when I was nervous I would accidentally zap someone with thunder.” 

Izuku hummed and thought to himself. “I kept shocking myself the other day when I was excited...or nervous. It was hard to tell.” He knew that for certain. “I was frustrated the other day and it felt like everything heated up for a minute.”

“See? No two people are the same, and things are going to differ from person to person. Especially considering that the two of us might have different affinities for magical elements. I tend to have more of a liking for ice and water. You on the other hand might cater to different ones, time will tell.”

Izuku nodded and fervently scribbled down his invisible notes on his palm. Aqua paused and watched him. 

Once he had slowed down she had continued.

“The first two times you used magic you were in high stake situations. Life or death, you were stressed and you pretty much used up everything you had.”

Izuku thought back to the immense exhaustion he felt after both times. He had actually passed out the first time, and the second time he was close then she had used something to restore some of his energy.

“Yeah…” He muttered. Holding back a shudder.

“You’re not in any danger here, so it’s just a matter of mustering it up.” She smiled, walking over. “Alright, arms out, palms up, back straight. We’re gonna start off with just summoning them forward for now. Okay?”

Izuku nodded and stared at his palms.

“Using magic is also about focus and discipline. So just concentrate on what spell you want to use. Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, or Water.”

“Those are the main ones right?” He asked.

She nodded.

Izuku narrowed his eyes and stared at his hands. He just had to concentrate right? That was it? He just had to  _ will _ it into existence?

He took a deep breath and focused on fire, it felt simple. It was something familiar to him in more ways than one. It was like reaching for something that he didn’t know was there, taking a piece of it and turning it into something else. 

It felt a bit...strange. It admittedly left him feeling a bit empty the more he grasped at.

He could feel his palms heat up. He looked down at them in surprise, seeing tiny flames flickering in and out of his hands.

“Woah…” He muttered. He brought his hands a little closer and marveled at them. 

At some point, he lost his focus and he saw the flames go out. He gasped and hurriedly worked to summon them again, only to make them flare out violently.

“Gah!” He tried to shake the flames off, momentarily forgetting they wouldn’t respond as normal fire would. As if fed by his panic the flames grew hotter and began to surround him like they did in the tunnels. 

He was brought back to that feeling, of fire eating away at him inside and out. Being lost in a sea of flames, the lack of control.

Izuku stumbled back and looked around in fear, angry fire surrounding him. He yelped in surprise when a hand shot out and grabbed his arm.

“Izuku calm down!” Aqua shouted. 

He opened his mouth to respond but only a weak rasp came out. He heard her, but he couldn’t. He could see the flames licking at her skin and beginning to burn at her sleeves.

_ I’m hurting her… _

The thought increased his desperation and he struggled to put a lid on it. 

A moment later her hand disappeared, and before he could look for her he was hit with a large stream of water that immediately snuffed out his fire. He fell over and landed on his rear, coughing and trying to relieve the irritating dryness in his throat. 

“Well, that was certainly something for a first try,” Aqua handed him a water bottle. Which he took gratefully. “The fire went out since you lost focus, and you panicked and that made it go out of control.”

Izuku frowned and looked down, daring a glance at her arm. The sleeve was burned, but she relatively seemed unharmed. “Sorry…”

“It’s alright.” She offered a patient smile. “It was your first try, I’m not expecting you to get the hang of it right off the bat.”

Izuku fiddled with the water bottle and nodded. “Right...so…”

“We’ll work on it.” Aqua nodded. “We have time, and I don’t want you to rush yourself okay? Let yourself cool down, and then we’ll try again.”

“Okay!”

**-HoL-**

If someone were to ask Aqua if she knew what she was doing, she would say no. No, she did not, but she was going to wing it as best she could.

Izuku was someone who was clearly dedicated to whatever he put his mind to. He wasn’t going to stop unless someone stepped in. She had to admit, she was impressed how he threw himself into training, right off the bat he was ready to go and willing to listen.

Though he seemed to carry this air of nervousness around him whenever he was around her. He was tense and rigid, as if she would say something or lash out at him. It was like he was walking on eggshells.

She tried to put him at ease as with her patience and assuring him there was no need to worry about mistakes, they happen. It seemed to work more or less, as time went on he seemed less nervous but he still clammed up sometimes or panicked if he messed up.

In a way, Izuku reminded Aqua of herself. When she was young and starting on her training. She was just as nervous around Master Eraqus as Izuku is around her. She was afraid of messing up around him, afraid of disappointing him in any way.

Over time she had grown comfortable around him, she wasn’t afraid to mess up anymore. She went to him whenever she was scared or upset, or there was an issue she and Terra couldn’t fix. He was her Master, and she trusted and respected him more than anything.

Aqua didn’t want Izuku to feel nervous around her, that was the last thing she ever wanted from him. She wanted him to trust her and be able to feel at ease around her, the last thing she wanted was him to feel nothing but pressure to succeed. 

They were into their second month of training now and progress felt relatively good, to Aqua at least. Izuku was still getting a handle on using his magic, he had a few flare-ups here and there, and he was giving it his all in the physical exercises.

Once or twice she had to ask him to slow down when he insisted on jumping from on task, immediately to another. He was so insistent on moving forward.

Aqua had to admit, she admired his spirit and determination. It was certainly something else. She couldn’t help but smile to herself when she thought of Master Eraqus, he would have definitely taken a liking to the boy.

“I have a question…” Izuku started, looking up from his notebook. It was marked with the number 1.

“I might just have an answer.” Aqua looked up from the fridge. It was one of their days off, something she insisted on so he could recover. As well as study, he was still in school and she wasn’t going to jeopardize his education. Especially since he once mentioned he was shooting for UA, a hero school.

“Uh…” He scratched the back of his head. “You’re a Keyblade Master, right? Did you have anyone to teach you how to use a Keyblade, and magic, and all about the worlds?”

She paused for a moment looking over to him. He watched her for a moment before paling and backpedaling. “I-I’m sorry if that’s a personal question, you don’t have to answer.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” She smiled, closing the fridge. “I did have someone to teach me, Master Eraqus. This is actually his Keyblade, believe it or not.” She quickly summoned Master Defender.

“Woah...so, when you became a Master he passed it down to you?”

Aqua faltered before letting the weapon fade. “Not...not necessarily. Not in the way you think.”

“Oh.” He paused. “ _ Oh _ ...he’s-”

“Master Eraqus was struck down, and I later retrieved his Keyblade. I’ve carried it with me ever since.” She gripped the cup in her hands tightly.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He muttered sheepishly.

“No, it’s okay. You didn’t know.”

Izuku nodded and tapped his pencil against the page.

“You said it’s his Keyblade, so did it replace yours? I remember you said once that the Keyblade reflects its wielder.”

“I had both for a time, and then I lost mine and I was left with my Master’s Keyblade.”

“You lost your Keyblade?” 

“Shh.” Aqua put a finger to his lips and he slapped a hand over his mouth. They looked at the stairs and listened for a moment before relaxing.

“Shush Kupo!” One of the Moogles hissed as they passed by.

“Sorry…”

Aqua sighed and sat down at the table across from him once she was sure Eri was still asleep. Another bad night.

“Yes, I lost my Keyblade.” She answered. “I gave it, and my armor up so my friend could return to the Realm of Light. I didn’t want him to be trapped in there, I’d rather it be me than him to be lost in there.”

“Your friend?”

Aqua nodded. “I wasn’t Master Eraqus’s only student, just one of three. I grew up with Terra. And we met Ven a lot later. They’re my best friends…”

Izuku made a random line in the notebook before speaking again.

“If you don’t mind me asking...where are they now?” He asked. “If you’re here and they’re...not.”

Aqua paused for a moment before sighing. “I don’t mind you asking, not at all. In truth, I have no idea where Terra is right now. All I  _ do _ know is that I got him to the Realm of Light, for all I know he might be looking for Ven and I. And Ventus...I think he might still be asleep. I had to hide him away before I ended up here…” 

She had started to trace patterns in the table. She missed them dearly, 10 years apart felt too long to see the people she cherished. Though she couldn’t help but feel she deserved it in a way, she messed up. She should have kept a better eye on Terra, she should have been able to keep Vanitas away from Ventus. What good was her title of Keyblade Master if it truly meant nothing?

“Still be asleep?” Izuku asked. “Like a coma?”

Aqua tapped on the table a few times before shaking her head. “It’s a long story,  _ really _ long. Besides, don’t you have a test to study for?”

Izuku sighed. “Yeah, I do…” He glanced back down to a textbook he still had yet to open. Math, his current nemesis.

“Well, I‘ll leave you to it.” Aqua smiled and grabbed her phone.

“Please don’t.” He yawned.

“If you don’t want to study, try a nap, you look like you need one.”

“I’d rather study.”

  
  


**-.-**

“You’re shooting for UA right?” Aqua asked as she threw a punch that Izuku dodged. Five months in, and he was doing well. He picked up things quickly, soon enough she’d move him to more advanced sword practice. She wanted him to have a better hold in hand to hand combat before moving too far ahead on anything else.

His control over magic had gotten exceptionally better, his flare-ups were pretty much nonexistent unless he was under a lot of stress. Something he had gotten better at managing.

“Y-Yeah, and-Woah!” He stepped to the side and threw a punch of his own, which she blocked and retaliated. “It’s the best hero school,” he continued. “Some of the greatest heroes came from UA, and well I wanna be a hero too.”

“Is that so?” She asked. “Like who?”

“Well, All Might for one.” He gasped and stumbled back. “A-And then there’s Endeavor, Eraserhead, Present Mic, Midnight, a lot!”

“Sounds rather prestigious.”

“It is! It’s the best of the best and well, I wanna be a hero! UA is my top choice, and-Woah!”

Aqua had grabbed his arm and flipped him over, making him hit the ground hard. Izuku coughed and laid there for a minute before groaning.

Aqua laughed before looking over to Eri sitting on the sidelines. “Eri, how long was that?”

“2 minutes and 20 seconds!”

“And what’s the score?” Izuku asked.

“4-1.”

Izuku rubbed his eyes and sat up. “One more time!” He insisted. 

“Nope, we did 5 fights, that was the agreed amount right? You were a little sloppy on that last one, but you are due for a break. Drink some water and then we’re gonna do some magic drills. Since we skipped them last time.” She eyed him, noting the bags beneath his eyes. Had he been getting enough sleep?

Izuku sighed and got up. “Right...Eri do you want some water?” He asked.

“Yes please!”

“Master?” 

“Sounds good.”

Aqua watched him jog over to their bags and rummage through them. 

She couldn’t help but notice that he had begun to change after a while. It was subtle at first, but as time went on she could see more and more of it. Somewhere down the line the nervousness he carried around her faded, and he grew comfortable around her, the Moogles, and Eri.

He would still fidget at times and stammer when asking what he considers sensitive questions, but there was a clear rise in his self-esteem. He had begun to carry himself differently and was a little more outspoken. Though there were times when he’d clam up and hide himself with his arms, or change subjects as quickly as they were brought up.

It worried her, but she didn’t want to push. She could only assure him she was there for him, the last thing she wanted to do was push too far. 

Aqua sighed and stretched out her arms before walking around. One of the next lessons she had been planning on was aim and multitasking. Izuku had admitted his aim was less than stellar, and she got to see first hand how off he was the first time he hurled a fireball at the ice target. He nearly set something on fire and apologized profusely after.

It took all of her willpower not to laugh. 

Terra had been the same way, awful aim and causing damage to things he shouldn’t. He had once thrown a spoon at her when she commented on his cooking skills, only to toss the wooden spoon out the window and into the training grounds outside.

That was something they would work on soon enough.

Multitasking was the main skill he had to work on, mainly on the aspect of focus. It still took him a moment or two to conjure up the spell he wanted, then fire it off. Then there was the minor issue of him losing concentration and letting the spell fizzling out, usually if he’s talking about something or looking around the area. He had to put 100% of his focus into using his magic to keep it going. 

Izuku hurried back over with three bottles in his hands. He handed them out before opening his own and downing half the bottle. “So what part of magic are we gonna be working on today?” He asked, clear excitement in his voice, it was glaringly obvious despite his efforts to hide it.

“Multitasking.” She answered simply.

Izuku froze and sighed. “Multitasking…”

“Practice makes perfect.” She reminded him.

“I know…” He drank some more and placed it down. 

Aqua nodded, then looked down at the child. “Drink your water Eri, I don’t want you getting dehydrated again.” 

“I know, me neither.” Eri took a few sips.

“Alright then, Izuku…”

He nodded and held out his hands. He reached for his magic and grasped onto the little he needed, channeling it into a flame he could hold. 

“Have a good hold on it?” She asked.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, well...how about you tell me-”

A loud noise cut her off. Aqua looked at Izuku, whose face had gone red. He chuckled nervously and pulled his phone from his pocket, managing to maintain the flame in one hand.

“Hello?” He answered.

Aqua sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She  _ told _ him to leave his phone in his bag, and he usually listens. 

“Oh, you’re gonna be home tonight? That’s great! No, no I can start dinner…” He began to pace around. Aqua looked up at that.

“I don’t know...maybe? Maybe pick some up just in case, it wouldn’t hurt to have more on hand. Yeah, of course!” The flames changed into small excited sparks that grew stronger every time he spoke.

“Don’t worry Mom, I can do it. I am at the library though so it’ll take me a minute to get home. I will be, don’t worry...yeah I promise. Okay, see you soon!” Izuku smiled and pocketed the phone, pausing before looking up at Aqua.

“That was my mom…” He said sheepishly.

“I heard, I also heard you’re supposed to start dinner.”

“Yeah...I’m sorry but-”

“Go.” She said. “I’d say you’re pretty far from home and you’ve got a lot of ground to cover, Mr. I’m-at-the-library.”

He laughed nervously.

“Izuku does she even know you have pow-”

“Thank you, Master! I’ll see you later!” He darted away and grabbed his backpack from the ground. 

“Izuku!”

“I’ll-gah!” He tripped over himself and crashed to the ground, his backpack spilling its contents. “Crap!” Books, papers, and various other items spilled out to the ground. 

“You okay?” Aqua asked, hurrying over with Eri. 

“I’m good! I’ll see you later!” He shoved what he could gather in his backpack and took off again. 

By the time Aqua and Eri had gotten to where he was, he was long gone, speeding away in his excitement. While Aqua watched him leave Eri looked at the ground and picked something up.

“He forgot his book…” Eri muttered, looking down to see a few other things scattered about. Another notebook, a pencil, graded assignments, and a few other things. 

“He forgot a lot of things.” Aqua hummed, gathering the other dropped items. She paused when she picked up the second notebook. It had obvious water damage and had burn marks all over it. “What on earth…” She muttered. The notebook was in such poor condition, the ink was runny in some spots and smelled an awful lot like sewage.

This was something that was just...off. It wasn’t like Izuku to take poor care of his things. She knew he cared for his things, and he was always so careful to make sure the books he brought over to study would never be damaged.

Aqua eyed the notebook, curious she opened it up. She opened up to a page with a drawing of another hero, Mt. Lady. Besides the drawing there were different descriptions and questions written in the headers.

“Wow, these are really detailed…” She murmured, looking at it in awe. She flipped through a few pages, seeing other heroes with lists of strengths, weaknesses, observations, and questions of the hero’s abilities.

Aqua skimmed through the pages, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was somewhere in the notebook. She ended up stopping at a certain page, seeing the autograph of none other than All Might taking up two pages. After that the pages were blank.

“He stopped writing…but it cuts off here.” She muttered. “So what’s that other one?”

“Training Notes No. 1.” Eri read the title and handed it to her.

“He takes physical notes?” Aqua asked aloud. She hadn’t realized that she knew he would write on his hand. Was that how he transferred everything, just remembering what he traced? She looked through them. They were as detailed as his analysis notes, though there were more questions than the notes. Unlike the other notebook though the first page was blank, though this looked like it was on purpose.

He had notes on magic, and the different levels she told him about. A drawing of Master Defender with small bullet points on the side. Then there was a remake of the drawing she made when explaining how worlds worked.

There were a lot of questions, taking up a page or two. Things he hadn’t asked yet, things she hadn’t taught him yet.

_ Were the worlds always separate? _

_ If not what happened? _

_ How many worlds are there? _

_ Are there other Keyblade Wielders? _

_ Who put the World Order in place? _

She looked through them before closing the book and shaking her head. A bit of shame filled her as she gathered the rest of his things. These were his notes, his business, which she had just gone through. Granted she just skimmed through them, it didn't make her feel any better. 

She silently berated herself until she saw the rest of his scattered items, which would be simply described as first aid equipment. She raised an eyebrow and looked over the half-empty bottle of disinfectant and the almost nonexistent roll of gauze.

“What’s that?” Eri asked, picking up a few graded papers. 

“Things for first aid,” Aqua answered. “Come on Eri, let’s go home.”

“Is Izuku in trouble?” Eri asked, taking her hand. 

“Not really, I just have to have a talk with him next time.”

Aqua would tolerate very few things, but one thing she refused to put up with was her student walking around and hiding injuries while he was training. How long had he been hiding this from her?

**-.-**

“Where the hell did he go?”

“Chill out Bakugo, it’s Midoriya. It’s not like he’ll just up and disappear.”

Izuku bit his lip, watching Katsuki walk by from behind the bleachers. It was gym period and the first chance he had he slipped away to hide. Katsuki had been getting more and more aggressive in the last few months, interrogating him and berating him.

He always kept his mouth shut and asked him to leave him alone, saying things to try and placate him. It never worked, and if anything it seemed to make it worse and only spurred him on.

Izuku sighed softly and settled down. He took a glance at the time and pocketed his phone before holding his hands out. He muttered to himself as small chunks of ice appeared in his hands, he narrowed his eyes and concentrated on the ice melting into spheres of water. 

It was a strain on himself, considering he had gotten little to no sleep the night previous. He had stayed up late, he hadn’t been sure of the time, but if he had to guess he finally collapsed a few hours before his morning alarm. 

His eye twitched as he lost focus for a moment, the water almost going everywhere.

“You still have some magic left, keep going keep going.” He murmured, ignoring the raging headache. 

Izuku narrowed his eyes and made the water evaporate into tiny gusts of wind, small tornados in his palms. He smiled to himself and made them smaller and smaller until they were nothing and dispersed, blowing a small gust of cool air in his face.

_ Getting better...I’m getting better. But that still took way too long to change between spells. Master Aqua can do it in seconds and it still takes me a while to switch. _

Izuku leaned back and took a deep breath. He was exhausted and low on energy he knew that, but it didn’t mean he was going to stop anytime soon. He was grateful for Aqua taking him in and training him, he really was, and the last thing he wanted to do was let her down. In order to not do that he had to push himself beyond his limits again and again.

It was the only way to get stronger. To not let his Master down, to catch up to those who are miles ahead of him, to prove he was worth something. 

He had even begun taking nightly runs, running down a few blocks before making a sprint back to his house and slipping in through the window to his room. Sure once or twice he had gotten attacked by Heartless and sustained a few injuries. Even though he had the means to defend himself it didn’t mean he would, using his power would mean breaking the law. Even if it wasn’t a Quirk, even if it was in self-defense. 

He had to be saved by a few heroes once or twice in the months he’s been running, and he’s been scolded plenty of times by them. They would have escorted him home or to the station unless he managed to slip away and make the run to his house.

Izuku rubbed at the bandages on his arms, flinching at the pain. Katsuki had really done a number on him the last time he managed to corner him. It honestly felt like there was no rhyme or reason to it. It felt like he was taking his anger out on him, anger for something he had no idea about.

Whatever it was, all Katsuki did was belittle and threaten him. Izuku had been doing his best to avoid the blond in every way he could. As soon as the bell rang for the end of the day he would be the first one out the door. He had started taking different ways home if he figured Katsuki was too close and would catch up.

There were a few times where he genuinely thought about jumping out the window as a means of getting out faster. Instead, he nearly falls down the stairs by taking two at a time, which is by far better than taking the window.

Izuku tried to rub the exhaustion of his eyes and shakily stood up. He was tired, he knew this, but he had gotten pretty good at hiding it from everyone. A power nap on the train, dozing off around lunch, finishing his work early and letting himself rest just a bit.

He learned how to work with the short bursts of energy, he had to. He had to work harder, and if sacrificing sleep meant he’d get better at everything then so be it. 

He didn’t want to be left behind, he didn’t want to disappoint. So he’d work as hard as he needed to.

A loud stomp startled him from his thoughts and he slapped his hands over his mouth to keep back a yelp. He looked up to see a few people sitting above him and talking loudly. Something about going to someone’s house and playing a game.

Izuku sighed and moved from beneath the bleachers, looking out from his hiding place and stepping out into the open. With another glance at his phone he saw that gym class was almost over. He had a few text messages from Eri, she had probably sent him a few pictures of drawings she made. She had been doing that a lot lately. 

He smiled to himself and pocketed his phone, taking another glance around before walking forward. He figured it was time to head to the locker rooms, better to just keep hiding and try to avoid anyone. The sooner he could be out of there the better.

At least he had thought so until he was grabbed and thrown against a wall. From the angle he was at, the bleachers were blocking the sight of the gym teacher and pretty much anyone else.

Izuku grunted as he slammed into the wall, looking up to see one other than Katsuki. Much to Izuku’s surprise, he was alone.

Izuku shuddered and tensed up, looking down at the hand that held him there. 

“H-Hi Kacchan…”

“Shut the hell up you damn nerd.” He snapped.

Izuku shut his mouth and eyed the hand that began to heat up.

Katsuki said nothing for a moment, just looking Izuku up and down. Taking in his exhausted appearance, he had begun to notice the small changes in his physique as well as his confidence. But as usual, the damn nerd just clammed up at the sight of him, as he should.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing Deku? Are you  _ still _ going for UA?” He narrowed his eyes.

“Uh...y-yeah. Of course, I mean...I still wanna go. I think I can-”

“Shut up you damn nerd!” He raised his voice and slammed Izuku into the wall again. “Do you not know how to listen? Or you dumber than you look? I told you you’d die in the exams Deku, you really think you can do shit? Just because you had one small victory that wasn’t even fucking yours you think you’re hot shit now?”

“N-No! No, Kacchan why would I think that I’m- ow!” He flinched at the small spark that stung him. “Kacchan, stop!”

Katsuki only glowered at him, the look in his eyes giving Izuku a sick feeling. A pit of dread appearing in his stomach and chills violently wracking his body. That feeling alone made him feel like he was suffocating, it made him want to run away but he couldn’t.

The corners of his mouth twitched up for a moment. “Or what Deku? You gonna use that neat little trick you did that night?”

“K-Kacchan, please. Just, just stop!”

“Why don’t you make me Deku, you’ve got some special trick now so why don’t you use it? Think you’re too good to use your power on me, Deku?”

“I s-said stop.” Izuku grit his teeth, gripping Katsuki’s arm.

Katsuki growled and held a sparking hand near Izuku’s face. “You really are still just a useless Deku, but it looks like you still don’t know your place you-”

“I said stop!” Izuku shouted as powerful sparks surrounded him. He gasped as they zapped Katsuki and made him yell in either pain or surprise, it was hard to tell. He grunted as the sparks persisted, fading after a few seconds. He panted and looked Izuku in the eye before scowling.

“You little bastard…”

Izuku gave him a hard shove and sprinted away towards the locker rooms. He apologized as he pushed past a few students to get to his locker and change as quickly as he could. By the time Katsuki had entered the room, Izuku was already pulling on his shoes and heading out another door. 

Izuku was shaking as he headed to his last class for the day. A few black spots began to dot the edges of his vision, making him stumble and nearly crash to the ground a few times. 

_ Kacchan’s gonna kill me, holy crap he’s gonna kill me. _

Izuku shuffled into the mostly empty classroom and took his seat, the teacher didn’t give him a second glance. He didn’t see how he was pale and shaking like a leaf, he drew in one shaky breath after another and wiped away the sweat that poured down his face. 

He hesitantly laid his head down and tried to blink away the blurry vision.

_ I overdid it… _

He closed his eyes for a moment, it felt like an eternity before a loud clap startled him awake and made him sit upright. He looked around in panic before realizing it was just the teacher getting everyone’s attention. He calmed down momentarily before catching the still,  _ very _ , pissed off gaze of Katsuki.

Izuku shrank in his chair and stared straight ahead.

The class seemed to last forever, but it still didn’t feel like it was long enough. He didn’t pay any attention to the lesson at hand, he had spent the entire class period going through different plans in his head. 

_ I can either run home or make a run for Master’s home. I can probably lose him if I run for her home since he’ll be expecting me to go to my house. Unless he plans on just hunting me down right from the get-go, then I’ll have to outrun him. Can I even do that? What if he catches me halfway there? _

Izuku scratched at his face nervously and glanced at the clock, he had a few minutes left to come up with some kind of escape plan. So far the only thing he had down was running away.

He glanced at his phone to see another message from Eri.

Maybe he could call Aqua, say something about asking to meet up somewhere halfway. 

Katsuki wouldn’t do anything if there was someone else there...well actually he  _ would _ , but she wouldn’t let it just happen. She wasn’t like the other adults, she wasn’t like the teachers in the school. She wouldn’t turn away…right?

What if she did? What would she say if she saw he couldn’t defend himself? Five months of training and he was still weak, all that progress was practically nothing. If she saw him in the sorry state Katsuki would for sure leave him in would she feel disappointed? Would she feel like she wasted her time?

Izuku gulped and spent a few moments gathering himself, glancing at the clock to see he only had seconds. He quietly packed up his bag and stared at his phone, still trying to work out the problem.

What if he just sent her his location? 

Would she start to head towards him? Would she get there in time? Probably not.

Maybe if he was cornered and managed to get closer to that place he could send his location  _ then _ .

_ What if she’s not even home? Her life doesn’t revolve around you damn it. What if she’s out doing something important? _

He gripped the edges of his desk as the clock ticked down. If he got up and ran as soon as the bell rang he’d be okay, he’d have enough of a head start. 

His heart hammered in his chest as he reached down and picked up his bag, he glanced over to Katsuki. His heart dropped at the sight of his smoking hands.

“Remember to study for the test on Monday. Alright everyone, get home safe.”

The bell rang and Izuku was the first one out the door, having hurdled over a few desks to get to the door. 

“Watch it loser!”

“Hey, what’s the rush freak?”

Izuku ignored the various scoldings and pushed past the people who tried to shove him aside. He had a few seconds before Katsuki caught up to him and he’d milk that time for all it was worth.

He yelled as he nearly fell down the stairs, actually falling at some point when someone pushed him to walk without hindrance. He didn’t register the pain until he had gotten to his feet and rushed down the last flight and to the entrance. 

His arm began to hurt like hell but he ignored, using his good arm to throw a door open and run out into the open. 

Izuku looked over his shoulder to see Katsuki a little ways behind him. He gasped and looked forward, speeding up as he rounded a corner.

_ If I take the train he’ll manage to catch up, but he won’t do anything...but he’ll follow me! _

Making the run to her house it was, it was a few ways away but he could do it. It wouldn’t be the first time, hopefully not the last.

“Get back here Deku!”

“Oh, crap.”

Izuku crossed the street, dodging cars and bikes as he went. He had to put as much space between himself and Katsuki as possible. There was no way he’d use his Quirk in public, not of it meant blemishing his record.

He looked around, he had to get out of the open and try to throw him off his trail. Maybe even take a shortcut if he could find one. Without a second thought, he ducked into an alleyway and sprinted down the narrow pass. He almost hit the wall when making a sharp turn.

Time blurred the farther he went, things seeming familiar then seeing something he hadn’t noticed before. He had gone on autopilot, it was all he could do to ignore the burning of his lungs and the painful ache in his legs. When he tried to pay attention to everything around him the world began to sway and colors would swirl into one another.

He just had to focus on getting there, he’d be okay. 

The bustling noises of the city blended into each other. Stranger’s voices, honking cars, shouting, the buzz of lights, his heartbeat. It all turned into a loud static noise that pierced his ears. Everything was static, the world around him and all its residents.

It was like he was running into nothingness, into a void that was ready to consume him.

He was slammed back into reality when he crashed into something solid and fell to the ground. He groaned and sat up, tentatively getting to his feet when two bony hands helped pick him up.

He wiped some of the sweat away from his face and looked up to the skeletal stranger. Blue eyes looked down at him in concern.

“Are you alright young man? That was quite a tumble you took.” 

Izuku panted and looked around, mumbling something incoherent as an answer. There was no sign of Katsuki, did he manage to shake him?

“Are you sure you’re okay? You look rather unwell.” The stranger frowned. “Why don’t you sit down for a minute and catch your breath?”

“N-No I’m...I’m good I just gotta…” He tried to walk forward only to have the world start spinning again. He stumbled a bit and righted himself. “Thank-Thank you.” He nodded and started heading off again, unaware of the man slowly following after.

Izuku jogged forward, wheezing with every step. His lungs were on fire and wouldn’t take in the air he was gulping down.

He slowed down some and pulled out his phone, not quite thinking when he selected his location and sent it. Adding a message of what he was sure was nothing but gibberish.

There wasn’t much distance left, just a couple of blocks. An easy jog, no walk. It was an easy walk.

The streets around him were mostly empty save for a few people every other minute. It was a bit unsettling, but he finally felt safe. He took a deep breath and picked up the pace, better to get there sooner rather than later and explain the weird messages.

He wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see a hand shoot out and grab his collar, dragging him into an alley. Stars exploded in his vision as his head was slammed into the brick wall.

“Finally found you, you little bastard. You thought you were gonna get that easy? After that little stunt you pulled? What the hell was  _ that  _ Deku?”

“It-It was an accident! K-Kacchan I di-didn’t mean to honest! I-”

“What Deku? You what? Since when does a loser like you have a Quirk? Have any kind of fucking power? Unless you think you’re too good to show me.”

“No! That’s not...that's not it! Kacchan I just…”

“Tch, so you’ve been hiding your Quirk from me, is that it Deku?” He sneered. “Look at you, thinking you’re stronger than you actually are when you’re just a worthless piece of trash that doesn’t know its place.”

Izuku bit his lip and looked down.

“What makes you think you’re gonna make it into UA if you can’t even defend yourself now? You might...no you  _ will _ die the exams if you even make it there once I’m done with you.”

There was a strange feeling he had around Katsuki like he just radiated a horrible aura. It made his stomach turn and began to suffocate him again.

“I told you Deku I’m the only one from that crap school who’s going to UA, and if anything you being there will just drag that place down and make you look like more of a loser.”

“I can try...I-I will try, I still wanna be a hero Kacchan. J-Just like when we were k-” A punch to the face cut him off and made bright colors appear once again. When he managed to shake the colors from his vision he saw a sparking hand far too close for comfort.

“When are you gonna get it into your stupid head that you can’t be a hero. That you’re nothing but a damn-” A hand shot out and caught Katsuki’s wrist, stopping him from landing an explosion powered hit to Izuku.

The two boys looked up to see a woman a bit taller than the two of them glaring down at them. Izuku withheld a sigh of relief while Katsuki grunted in confusion.

“What is going on here?”

Her voice sent chills down their spines.

Katsuki faltered for a minute before wrenching free of her grasp and stepping away from Izuku. “What’s it to you lady? Mind your own business.”

“When I see someone getting hurt it  _ is _ my business.” She snapped. “Now would you like to tell me what’s going on here, or do I have to drag you to a police station for illegal Quirk use?”

Katsuki narrowed his eyes and huffed. “Just settling something lady.” He grabbed his bag and shoved Izuku to the side and left the alley. He stopped for a second to glare at Izuku before finally leaving. 

Aqua waited until she figured he was long gone before stepping in front of Izuku. 

“Izuku, are you okay?”

He nodded slowly, not looking directly at her.

“Are you sure? I need you to talk to me.”

Izuku stood up straight. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” He mumbled. Everything was spinning again, but this time he couldn’t make it stop.

“Do you wanna tell me what happened there?” She asked, about to say something else when she saw Izuku starting to sway. She stepped a bit closer. “Izuku are you sure you’re alright?”

“I uh...I’m actually not feeling too-” 

Aqua caught him in surprise and sighed softly.

“I’m gonna guess that’s a no.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discord: https://discord.gg/UWtM2he


	4. Final Stretch

**Final Stretch**

  
  


He woke up to the sound of someone talking and the smell of something delicious wafting through the air. 

Izuku groaned and tried to sit up, only to flinch and lay back down at the awful pounding in his head. He heard a small gasp and the sound of someone running away.

_ What happened? _

He tried to think through the fog in his mind, struggling to look back at the previous events. It was all a blur, there were a few things that stood out but he couldn’t quite connect the pieces yet. A hand appeared and placed itself on his head, Izuku jumped and sat up in a hurry. Colors and pain exploded in his eyes, leaving him blind for a moment.

“Easy, easy. It’s okay, you’re okay.” 

He felt another hand place itself on his shoulder and lay him back down. It took a moment for him to recognize the voice and relax into the soft comfort of what he figured must have been the couch.

Once the pain subsided Izuku managed to open his eyes to see his Master standing over him, watching him with concern.

“Hey…” She murmured. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired. What happened…?”

“You collapsed after I intervened with that interaction between you and that boy. You’ve been out for a few hours.” She answered. “Izuku, I need you to-”

“Hours?!” He sat up abruptly, again, and held his head in pain. “What time is it? Just how long was I out? Oh no, I gotta head home I have to-”

“Izuku!” Aqua grabbed his shoulders and made him sit back. “Calm down, you’re still not at 100% and I don’t think you will be for a while.” She frowned. 

Izuku sputtered. “M-Master I’m okay! Really, I-I-I just...I’m just tired and-”

“Izuku Midoriya, don’t you  _ dare _ lie to me.”

Izuku closed his mouth and looked down, his face turning pink.

Aqua watched him, looking over his form. He was hunched over and tense, he tried to keep his head down but it was easy to see he was blushing and trying to blink away the few tears that began to gather.

Izuku was wringing his hands, trying to hide under her gaze and attempting to calm himself down. He couldn’t though, he couldn’t even stop the slowly rising panic. He didn’t have to see her face to know she was disappointed in him, he could hear it in her voice. The silence between them was tense, the student shaking terribly in his mentor’s hold. Aqua sighed and sat back, letting him go. “Izuku, this is not something I can just leave unchecked. I can’t just ignore what happened, especially after I saw what that boy was going to do to you.”

He gasped as the pieces finally clicked together. He remembered now, how he accidentally shocked Katsuki, the chase, the threats, how Aqua had stopped him.

“Oh…”

“How about we talk about this somewhere a little more private?” She asked.

Izuku raised his head to look around at a few of the Moogles sitting around. One of them sat on the couch beside Izuku, they looked at him and waved.

“Y-Yeah...that sounds good…” Izuku mumbled, putting his head down again.

“Can you walk?”

“I think so…”

Aqua helped him to his feet and guided him through the room, saying nothing and leaving Izuku to stew in his own silent anxiety. Izuku grasped onto the railing of the stairs in an attempt to ground himself and get the dizziness to stop. He took a shuddering breath and forced himself to push forward despite the nauseating fear building up inside. As he followed her he couldn’t help but let his thoughts run wild. She knew now, she saw how weak he was. She saw that he couldn’t even defend himself against a single person. She could see how scared he was, and how much of a  _ waste _ he was. After all this time he should have been able to hold his own, but he couldn’t and it was clear she had wasted her time on him. He lost his chance, and after this talk and he only further confirmed how weak he was that would be it. He would be alone again, and that would be that.

He slowly came to a stop as Aqua stopped as well, stepping away from the stairs and guiding him to the table in the room. 

He was still on autopilot as he followed her, each passing thought wound him up more and more. By the time he sat down in front of her he was visibly shaking.

Aqua sat across from him and watched him, taking note of how he was hunched over, how he tried to make himself smaller. He gripped the edge of the table so tight his knuckles were white.

“Izuku.”

He ducked his head lower if that was possible. “Y-Yes..?”

“You’re not in trouble, I want to make that clear. I just need you to talk to me, okay?”

Izuku silently nodded.

“That boy who was about to hurt you, do you know him?”

Izuku nodded. “That was Ka-Kacchan…” He whispered.

“Kacchan...isn’t that the boy you saved from the Heartless that night? The one you asked about?” 

Izuku nodded again.

Aqua frowned to herself. She knew she recognized that boy, she just wasn’t aware of how much of a bad attitude he had on him. She had heard yelling before she approached Izuku when he was alone, she hadn’t thought it would be him of all people. Yelling at the one who saved him no less. There was something about that boy that made her uneasy, a terrible darkness that was slowly brewing within him. If left unchecked it may consume him, or worse snuff out a bright light that was slowly being worn down by it.

“Do you know why he was going to hurt you?” She asked. It was a loaded question she knew that, but it was better to bite the bullet and get it over with rather than beat around the bush.

Izuku froze and closed his mouth. He knew the answer, and either way, it wasn’t going to look good for him. It never did, to begin with.

He gulped and took a shaky breath. “He...I uh…” He kept his gaze on the table, unable to look her in the eye. He could just see the look of disappointment she was going to give him, how she would voice her disapproval of not only the gross misuse of his magic but also his lack of courage to stand up for himself. 

“Izuku, look at me.”

He began to tug at his jacket, keeping his head bowed.

“Izuku.” She was more firm this time, making his flinch.

Slowly he drew his head up and looked her in the eye. He was barely holding back tears and he was biting his lip so hard he drew blood. Aqua faltered for a moment before opening her mouth almost fearing for the worst. 

“Izuku, what-”

“I-I didn’t mean to!” He blurted out. “Really, really I di-didn’t. He was...I mean...I got, I got scared and I…” He took a deep breath. “I accidentally...I shocked him.”

“You shocked him?” She repeated.

He nodded.

“He scared you, am I understanding that right?” She saw him nod again. “It was an accident, and it was an emotional response. That doesn’t warrant hunting you down and threatening you Izuku. Not at all, that’s unacceptable.”

_ She doesn’t get it… _

He knew she wouldn’t, but then again she didn’t have the full picture. But she didn’t  _ need _ it, she didn’t have to know all that, because all that was important was the basic things. She didn’t care, she didn’t have to.

Even if she did know, who’s to say she’d react any differently like his teachers in the past? Would she really care to hear any of it? It was always his fault anyway...was this really any different?

The words tumbled out before he could think about it.

“He’s been mad at me...because I have a Q-Quirk now.”

Aqua stopped. 

“Excuse me?”

He slapped his hands over his mouth. 

“Izuku, what do you mean? What do you mean by that?”

He shook his head, it was like torture. He wanted to say it but refused to allow himself to. He wanted someone to know, but at the same time, he didn’t. It was his problem to deal with, his own battle to fight. He shouldn’t have to unload all this onto anyone else. He had no right to.

“Why would he be mad at you for having powers?”

“Because I’m Quirkless.”

The dam broke and tears began to pour down his face. He continued before she had a chance to speak.

“I-I’m not supposed to have any powers, Master, none. And, and everyone knows this. They all know about poor defenseless Izuku Midoriya and how he doesn’t have anything spe-special about him. He’s just the weird Quirkless kid who talks to himself and wants to be a hero, even though to everyone else it’s such a stupid dream!”

“Izuku.” Aqua stood up and tried to approach him as he began to pace. 

“He’s known me since we were...since we were kids. H-He  _ knows _ I don’t- shouldn’t have a Quirk. I’m not supposed to, and now that I do it’s like I’ve been lying to him. And I-I think that’s only part of it, because there’s always more, there’s always a reason to be mad at me apparently.” He sniffed. 

Knowing that they’ve known each other since they were kids worried Aqua. Had he always been like this? Did that boy really hurt him since they were kids? Though the thing that worried her most, was wondering how long he had been bottling this up.

“S-So yeah...To everyone else I’m just Quirkless Deku. And even, and even if everyone found out about my power they probably wouldn’t expect much from me. And you know what? I wouldn’t blame them, they h-have 10 years of experience on me. I have to work even harder to catch up to them, to even be good enough to  _ try _ for UA. I have to work hard, since that’s all I really have.”

“What you call ‘hard work’, is you actually overexerting yourself.” She stepped forward and took his shoulders, stopping his pacing. “When was the last time you actually slept? When was the last time you ate something?”

Izuku flinched and looked down. He didn’t have any real answers for her there.

Aqua was quiet, trying to gather her thoughts to the best of her ability. “Izuku, what that boy was doing to you is unacceptable. It’s none of his business whether-hey look at me. It is none of his business whether you have powers or not. Understand?  _ Nobody _ has any right to treat you poorly just because you didn’t have powers.”

Izuku continued to cry, saying nothing at first. 

“You’re working so hard, and pushing yourself far beyond than you should, and you’re only hurting yourself Izuku. You can not be doing this, because you’re only hurting yourself in the end and as your master I will not allow it. You’re talking about catching up when...Izuku you’ve already made so much progress, you have come so far from where you’ve started.”

Izuku shook his head and tried to wipe away some of his tears. Once he had started he couldn’t stop. Everything was spilling out whether he liked it or not. 

“How are you...How are you not angry at me?”

Aqua paused, having to take a moment to process the words.

“What? Why would I be angry at you?”

He grabbed at his chest and took a heaving breath, like the mere thought of the words caused him physical pain.

“Because you wasted your time…” A hoarse whisper. “B-Because you wasted your time on me...and even after all this time I’m still so weak. I-I can’t even defend myself from Heartless or anyone else. You’ve put all this effort into me and I don’t have anything to show for it…”

His legs gave out beneath him and would have fallen over if Aqua hadn’t been holding him.

“No...oh Izuku no.” She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. “Izuku you...the last thing you’ve done is disappoint me.” She felt her voice waver as a tidal wave of emotion crashed into her.

Was this how he felt around her? A constant pressure to not disappoint when that’s the very last thing he could ever do to her? To know he had felt this way for so long, probably since the very beginning hurt her. She  _ never _ wanted him to feel that way.

It was funny in a way, he didn’t want to disappoint her and she didn’t want to let him down either.

“Izuku, training you has and will never be a waste of time.  _ Never _ , okay? And I don’t expect you to know how to take on Heartless straight away, you’re still a beginner. Do you hear me? You’re still learning, and I don’t expect you to get everything right away. Everything you do is enough.” 

She softly rubbed circles into his back. At some point he had hugged her back, and was crying into her shoulder. 

“Izuku, if anything, it’s  _ me _ who has disappointed  _ you _ .”

“W-What?” He pulled away and looked at her. “N-No...what you mean-”

“It is my job as your Master to not only train you, but to take care of you as well.” She answered, pulling her sleeve down and wiping away a few of his tears. “Instead I made you feel pressured to impress me, and like you had to rush everything. I never wanted you to feel like that. And even so, I may not be able to do much but I’m supposed to  _ protect _ you. And clearly…” She looked down at the exposed bandages on his arm. “I have failed at that.”

Izuku looked down and pulled his sleeve down to hide the bandages.

“I don’t want you hiding things like this from me anymore, okay?” She took his arm. “Promise me. Promise that you’ll start taking care of yourself, and stop putting so much pressure on yourself. And promise that you’ll talk to me if you have to, because you don’t have to hide anything from me. Okay?”

Izuku took a shuddering breath and wiped at his face as more tears came. “I-I promise…”

Aqua nodded and smoothed over a few of his messy curls. “And I promise I’ll be better too. I’ll be here for you whenever you need me. I promise.”

Izuku nodded and devolved into a sobbing mess once again. 

They stayed there for a while until they calmed down and Izuku eventually passed out, his exhaustion evident on his face.

  
  


**-.-**

Aqua yawned as she made her way downstairs, a hyper 6 year old on her heels and asking what they were having for breakfast. She hummed out some kind of response coherent enough for her.

“Morning kupo,” A Moogle muttered as they floated by, a small mug in their hands.

“Good morning.” Aqua nodded. 

She made her way to the kitchen and poured herself some coffee while handing Eri a juice box. “I’ll make us some pancakes.” Aqua promised.

“Can I help?” 

“Of course, but we have to put our hair up before we start cooking. Can you grab us some hair ties?”

“Yup!” Eri took another sip of her juice before hurrying up the stairs, greeting a few of the Moogles on her way up. 

Aqua smiled to herself and took a step out of the kitchen, catching sight of the couch in the next room. There still fast asleep was Izuku, sleeping peacefully. He still had dark bags beneath his eyes and was a little on the pale side, but he’d be okay.

She suppressed a laugh as she caught sight of a few Moogles asleep on top of him. It was a few of the younger ones, one had settled on top of his head and made a bed out of his hair. Another one was tucked into his arms, snoring softly and hugging him back while a third was on his back and had the blanket bunched all around them.

There was still a lot they needed to talk about, she knew that. They’d get there, but for now they were okay. He was okay.

She walked over and pulled more of the blanket over him.

It was best to let him sleep for a little while longer.

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


“I think I’ve finally tracked Guardian down.”

“You what?”

Toshinori and Naomasa sat in a restaurant, huddled in a booth in a quiet corner. It was still early morning so there weren’t many guests to overhear their conversation.

Naomasa laughed and stirred around his coffee. “Well that’s certainly one way to start a conversation.”

“I know you’ve been trying to track her down for a long time Tsukauchi, so have I and I finally found a lead.” The skeletal man insisted, pausing for a moment to cough.

“Mind if I ask how long you’ve had this lead?” Naomasa questioned as he handed Toshinori a napkin.

“A few months, but I had figured I’d better see if it was a good source just in case. Lo and behold,” he pulled out a map of the city with an area circled in red ink. “I found her.”

Naomasa’s eyes widened and he took the map in his hands, scanning it over. “This is way on the other side of town, it’s practically deserted there. A perfect place to hide. How exactly did you say you found her?”

Toshinori sighed and slumped in his chair a bit. This was the part he wasn’t too excited to share, none of it was but it was better to have this information on her just in case.

“Well, I tailed this kid. Guardian took on a student five months ago, and I saw them when I went to go find him. She offered to take him in, and the kid was in tears. Now at the time I hadn’t gotten a good look at her face, it was pretty dark then.”

Naomasa watched him and glanced back down to the map. “Do you at least know the kid’s name? That way we can look him up?”

Toshinori nodded and prodded at a small tower of sugar packets he had made. 

“Midoriya Izuku. I had actually run into him earlier in the day, saved from from a villain. Or, rather saving him from himself. His Quirk was insane, he nearly burnt that villain and himself to a crisp. Had to knock him unconscious to get it to stop, he had no control.”

“That’s not good…” Naomasa wrote down a few things.

“Then I saw him again, that monster attack that swept up a few people. Though only one of them had gotten out, a young kid about the same age as Young Midoriya.”

“Yeah I think I know which one you’re talking about.” 

“Tsukauchi, he  _ froze _ those monsters. And when they shattered they stayed gone, none of them came back.”

Naomasa stopped his writing and looked up at Toshinori. “They stayed gone, as in the same way they do when Guardian slays them?”

Toshinori nodded.

“I take it you followed him after that whole incident.” He sighed. “Why though? Unless you were planning on giving him…”

Toshinori gasped and shook his head. “No, no. Offering him that was the last thing on my mind. What that young man did was brave no doubt, but it was also foolish and impulsive. No, I had tailed him for a different reason.”

“And what reason was that?”

Toshinori stared at the table for a moment and shivered. “His power Tsukauchi, it felt very similar to Guardian’s. Initially, before I had seen their interaction, I had thought they may have been connected in some way. I suppose they are though, considering the current situation.”

“What do you mean by that Yagi? You’ve always been vague when describing the ‘feel’ of power whenever you end up face to face with her.”

Toshinori sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Because it’s hard to explain. It feels off, like it doesn’t belong in a way. It doesn’t have a malicious air to it, it's just...off. It doesn’t belong.”

“Neither do those monsters, yet here we are.”

“You know I actually had looked for him and followed him because I was initially worried for him. I still am. I mean she’s a vigilante, he may be in danger being around her. Even if she had taken him on as a student. I mean I saw him the other day and that poor kid was half dead on his feet, I had thought she was overworking him and putting him through hell. Well, I actually saw the opposite when I stumbled upon the alley. She was worried about him, she looked scared when he blacked out…”

A woman came up and handed them their plates of food, thanking them for waiting before hurrying off and leaving the two men alone again.

Toshinori waited until Naomasa began digging into his food to speak.

“Tsukauchi, I understand that this information is important and all, but for now I feel that it’s best we don’t use it quite yet.”

He saw his head shoot up at that. “Now hear me out. We want to catch her, that’s true. But in doing so she gets jail time and has to be put through rehabilitation. That’s time where we’re left defenseless against those monsters and we may be overtaken. She may be going about it the wrong way, but if we’re being honest here Tsukauchi she’s pretty much our only defense.”

Naomasa stared at him as he began to speak again.

“Not to mention we may be leaving a child without her parent.”

That was when Tsukauchi began to choke.

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


Izuku yawned as he doodled on the side of his notebook. He was on the last problem of the worksheet, and he had been at it all day. 

He hummed to himself, and heard a hum echoed from across the table. Izuku smiled to himself and looked up to see Eri working on her own worksheet. She was already done with her real one, she was just sitting there and mimicking Izuku. She had grabbed a blank sheet of paper and drew a few things.

“What are you working on?” Eri asked.

“English.” He answered.

Eri tilted her head and walked over to him, peeking over the table to see his work. Her eyes widened at the amount of problems on the page, there were a lot more on his than there were on hers.

“Woah, that’s a lot.”

“It is.” Izuku laughed. “But I’m almost done.”

“Do you have any more homework?” She asked.

“Nope, this is the last of it. Some of my homework isn’t due into a few days but it’s better to get it out of the way. That way I have more time to train, or just relax.”

Eri nodded and watched him write down his answer.

“What’s going to school like?” She asked, pulling out the chair next to him. “Is it fun?”

Izuku paused. “Well...sort of. I mean at school you can make friends and join sports and stuff. I don’t really do that, I just go because I have to.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you have to?”

“It’s kind of the law Eri, if I don’t go my mom or I could get in trouble.”

“Oh.”

Eri watched him write down another line and erase the last few words and rewrite them in a different order.

“Do you like your school?”

Izuku paused, frowning to himself and tapping the paper before writing again.

“If I have to be honest, not really.” He scratched at his face. “It’s not very fun for me there. I don’t have any friends there, and people think I’m weird…”

Eri frowned. “But you’re not weird. Why do they think that?”

“Well…” Izuku checked over his work and nodded to himself. “It’s because I’m Quirkless, and I have been for a long time. So everybody kind of knows I don’t have powers, and people like to poke fun at that.”

Eri stared at him. “You don’t have a Quirk?”

“Yeah, magic and Quirks are two different things.”

“I know.” She nodded. “I think I’d rather have magic than a Quirk.” She fiddled with his pencil.

Izuku stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “Why’s that?” He asked and closed his backpack.

“You and Aqua make magic look really cool and fun, and I think magic is a lot better than my Quirk…” She poked at her horn.

“If you don’t mind me asking Eri, what’s your Quirk?” 

Eri fumbled with the pencil a bit before answering. “Rewind. I can reverse a living person’s body back to its previous state…” The definition echoing in her mind. The look of disgust on that man’s face still sent shivers down her spine. “It only works on people...which means I can really hurt someone.”

“Eri, your Quirk sounds amazing!” 

She gasped and looked up to see Izuku writing furiously in one of his notebooks. 

“Your Quirk is awesome, you can heal people that others can’t help. You can give people a second chance that they might not have otherwise.” He began to ramble on and on about her Quirk, listing off all the possibilities. 

Eri watched him in awe and listened to him go on and on. Aqua had said something similar, how her Quirk was amazing and how it was a gift, not a curse. For some reason it hit different hearing it from Izuku.

“You could be a support hero, or even a doctor if you don’t want to go down the hero track. Your Quirk can help so many people and…” He stopped when Eri hugged him. “Hey, is everything okay?”

She nodded and mumbled something he couldn’t quite hear. 

Izuku lightly patted her back, fearing he had upset her. It hadn’t occurred to him that a Quirk called ‘Rewind’ might actually lead to some sensitive subjects. Before he could ask if he offended her she sat up straight and wiped at her eyes. She looked over to the table to only see his notebook, none of the worksheets present.

“Are you done with homework?” She asked.

Izuku nodded and Eri smiled. “Do you wanna play tag with me and the Moogles?”

Izuku nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like fun.”

“Okay then.” She grinned and tapped his arm. “You’re it!” She yelled and ran out of the room.

“What? Hey, that’s not-” He shoved his notebook in his bag and ran after her.

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


Izuku panted as he fell to the ground with a thud. 

“Healing is...healing is hard.” He wheezed.

“It is, but at least you’re getting the barrier spell down pretty good.” Aqua sat beside him and sighed. “And using Cure is so hard because it uses up all your magical energy at the moment. But at least you were able to still run around. Not bad for your first few tries.”

“It’s a lot of magic energy for a...for a few small injuries.”

“Well I’d rather not beat up my student, and that’s because Cure is the beginning class of the spell. Mind naming me the other variations of it?”

“Cura, Curaga. Each one is more powerful than the last, but from what you said they all use the same amount of magic energy. How do you learn the more powerful variations?” 

“Well, it’s more like you growing more powerful and your magic growing stronger in turn. You can feel how strong they are.”

“Oh, so basically more training.” Izuku sighed.

“Yup, but the spells I’m teaching you are basic ones. There are many other spells, a lot more complex. There’s a few I can't even use, and I’m not sure if I ever will.” She looked up at the sky.

“What kind of other spells are there?” He asked. 

Aqua sighed and shook her head. “A lot. So many, a few of them I had learned on my own through trying to combine one technique with another. Then I had a new spell that surprisingly worked out, and then I honed it and tried to combine it with something else.”

“Is this your way of telling me that you can’t teach me every spell in the book, and that I have to learn some things on my own?”

“Pretty much.”

Izuku groaned and sat up. “Magic is kinda just something ever evolving huh? No way to really say where it’s going to end or become?”

“Nope not really.” She shook her head. “And I think it’s too early to be discussing the philosophies of magic.”

“It’s 4 in the afternoon.” He argued. 

“Way too early.”

“Aqua! Izuku!” Eri shouted from across the field. “Look what I can do!” She started running and tried to do a cartwheel, only to fall over halfway through. The two flinched at the loud thud and got up, ready to run over just in case.

Eri only coughed and stood up to brush herself off. “I’ll get it next time!”

“Keep practicing Eri!” Aqua cheered.

“Yeah!” She yelled, running away and ready to try again.

The two sat back down and watched Eri from afar. 

After a while Izuku began to play around with his magic. Making a tiny flame in his hand and making it grow bigger and smaller, trying to best to see what his limit was. After a moment he sighed and let the flame go out, flopping onto his back again.

“Burn off the rest of your magic?” Aqua asked.

“Yeah, feels like it.”

“Let yourself recover.” She tapped his head. “The more exhausted you are physically and mentally the longer it’s going to take for you magic to restore itself.”

Izuku nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’m just worried, there’s three months left and-”

“Three months is plenty of time and you’re improving everyday. Don’t get so wound up about it, you’re going to be okay..”

Izuku sighed and nodded, staring at the sky. Watching clouds pass over and burd glide through the air before disappearing from his view.

“Hey, Master?” He asked.

“Yeah?”

“What kind of worlds are out there? How many have you visited, what are they like?” He looked up at her.

“Different worlds...it’s been a while since I’ve thought about them.” She tapped her finger on the ground. “Well, the few I’ve visited were very interesting. I didn’t stray too far from home now that I think about it…”

Izuku sat up straight in interest.

“It’s hard to describe the worlds, there are so many and each one is more different than the last. There was a world I visited where I had to fight a witch that turned into a dragon to help a prince reach his love, another where I was sucked into a mirror and had to fight off the spirit living in there. There was another one where I was mistaken for another prince’s dance partner, and in the same world I was shrunk down and helped a mouse get a key to his friend’s room so she could escape.”

Aqua withheld a laugh when she saw the stars in his eyes, it was the same look Eri gave her when she told her about the worlds.

“Originally I had to leave my home to fight creatures called Unversed, and to bring Ven home, and keep an eye on Terra…”

“Unversed?” Izuku tilted his head.

“Creatures made of negative energy, they originated from one person but...that person is gone now.” She sighed. “As a Keylade Wielder it is our job to keep peace between worlds and protect light, to keep balance. Generally we’re not supposed to interfere or meddle but…”

“You can’t help it?”

Aqua nodded. “Sometimes you just have to jump in.”

Izuku hummed and looked into the distance.

“Out of all the worlds you’ve visited, which one was your favorite?” He asked.

Aqua laughed. “Well, I dunno, does the one I called home count? If not then...hm. I think I might have to say Disney Town.”

Another question popped into his head, before he could voice it Aqua continued. 

“I got there when something called the Dream Festival was going on. There was music and dancing everywhere, and so many different activities to take part in. I didn’t get to enjoy much of it, seeing as I had a job to do and had to fight off some Unversed. But it was fun, and then Ven, Terra, and I won the Million Dreams Award. Though I didn’t get to see them…”

She looked down and picked at the grass before shaking her head. “But yeah, that place was great. If I could I would take you and Eri there, even if the festival wasn’t taking place it’s just a place that seems like a lot of fun. Maybe one day...I’ll go there again with Terra and Ven, and we can enjoy it together.”

Izuku glanced over at her to see the beginnings of a sad smile on her face. He fumbled with his words for a moment before speaking again.

“So, uh...what was your homeworld like?” He asked quietly. 

“Hm, the place I called home was the Land of Departure.” She looked at him.

“That sounds kind of sad…” He mumbled.

“It does, doesn’t it? But it isn’t, not really. Or maybe I just think that because I grew up there. That world is actually a bit more special than the other worlds. Master Eraqus once said that the Land of Departure is a neutral ground, where light and dark peacefully coexist. Not too much of one, not too much of the other.”

“So, what was it like?”

Aqua smiled. “It was a beautiful place, with so many tall mountains and rivers winding around everywhere. At night the sky was so bright, you could see so many stars wherever you stood. The library we had there was huge, and the halls were so big you could just run through them for hours. It was home.”

Izuku picked at the grass some more. “It sounds really nice. Compared to everything you’ve seen this world must be kinda boring. Especially after 10 years or so.”

“It isn’t actually, there’s so much of this world I haven’t seen. It feels small sometimes, but only because I forget that there’s so much more out there.” She hummed. “You know, if the circumstances were different I probably would have brought you and Eri to the Land of Departure. To take care of Eri and train you…”

Izuku paused. “Why’s that?”

“Well, I feel like it would be the best place to train you. Not to mention that I have no idea what I’m doing, I would have asked my Master for help.” She looked up at the sky, as if to search for the world.

“Well, I’d say you’re doing a pretty good job for not knowing what you’re doing.”

“You’re only saying that because you’re my student.”

“No, no really.” He laughed. “So...why can’t we?”

“Hm?”

“Why can’t we go there?” He asked.

Aqua stopped. “Well, there are a lot of reasons Izuku. It’s not as simple as making a portal from one world to another. Remember how I told you about the lanes?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it’s dangerous to go through those lanes without any protection. The space between worlds is brimming with darkness, and if you’re not careful it will overtake you. Not only that, but...well. It’d be hard to leave this world seeing as it’s sealed off, and it'd be pretty hard to get to the Land of Departure seeing as it doesn’t exactly exist at the moment.”

Izuku stared at her for a moment before processing what she said. 

“Wait...what? What do you mean that this world is sealed off!”

Aqua sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I had the exact same reaction when I learned about that too. Well, the Moogles have been around for a very long time, and it’s knowledge they’ve passed down from generation to generation. Just like the other worlds this world was open and anybody could come and go as they please. According to the Moogles, about 200 years ago the few Keyblade Wielders that were here panicked for some reason and left this world and sealed it off. Cutting it off from the lanes and effectively other worlds, ever since then nobody in, and nobody out.”

“This world is sealed off? But then, how did you get here if it's nobody in and nobody out? How did that happen?”

Aqua nodded. “When they sealed it, I don’t think they quite cut it off completely. I got here the same way the Heartless got here. The Realm of Darkness.”

For some reason the name sent waves of dread churning through Izuku. “The Realm of Darkness?”

Aqua nodded. “Where we are is the Realm of Light. Where the worlds reside, while in that place...there’s only darkness. It’s endless, and there’s no end to the Heartless that dwell there. I had fallen off the path after fighting for so long, and instead of falling deeper into the darkness a bright light saved me and brought me here. I had been relieved at first, and the very first thing I tried to do was open a gate and go  _ somewhere _ I knew was familiar. Looking back that was reckless, seeing as I had no armor and I ended up hurting myself trying to open a gate.”

“Then what?” He asked.

“Nothing much I just...I saw the trouble this world was in and I did what I’m supposed to do. I helped defend it.”

“A-And the Land of Departure?” He asked. “You said it doesn’t exist anymore?”

“It doesn’t exist in the way you’re thinking. I personally sealed that world off.”

Izuku sputtered. “What? Why?”

“I had to.” She answered. “My home was lost to darkness, and I had to keep my friend safe. So what better place to hide him than in a world that would be hidden from everyone but one person. Also, with me sealing that place away, the world could heal from the damage.”

Izuku nodded, it was killing two birds with one stone he supposed. That friend that she hid, must be the one who was asleep and couldn't wake up. Ven was his name right?

“So...say you had the chance to. Would you leave this world?” He asked, drawing his knees to his chest.

“...I would want to. But it’d be pretty hard, I don’t think I could leave.”

“Why not?”

Aqua smiled and ruffled his hair. “Who would take care of Eri, and who would train you? I  _ do _ want to see my friends again, but right now this world is my home and I’m needed here more than I am out there.”

Izuku stopped and looked down. “But...wouldn’t you want to go look for them?”

“We’ll find our way to each other again, one day. I know we will.”

“How?”

Aqua pulled out a star shaped charm out of her pocket and showed it to Izuku. “This, our good luck charms. You see, somewhere out there there’s this tree with star shaped fruit.” She let Izuku hold the charm. “They say the fruit represents an unbreakable connection, so as long as your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can drive you apart. And you’ll always find your way back to each other.”

“Woah…” He looked over the charm and handed it back to Aqua.

“So, I’ll find them again. I know I will.” She smiled. “One day.”

Izuku nodded. 

Aqua stared at the charm for a bit before pocketing it and standing up. “Alright, let’s head back. You have to get home and I don’t want you out in the dark. Eri, come on it’s time to come back!”

As Izuku gathered their things he couldn’t help but wonder what it was like to have friends like that. 

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


Izuku sighed as he made his way out of the school, much later than he was supposed to. There was a reason for that, one he was not too thrilled for anyone to find out. He lightly touched the burn on his face and flinched in pain.

As much as he would like to use a Cure spell on it he just couldn’t muster up the energy to. He felt drained from the day and Katsuki’s beating. He was almost out the main doors when Katsuki grabbed him and dragged him off. Demanding to know who the woman who stopped him was, and why the hell she’d care about someone like Izuku.

More insults towards him and his ‘flimsy power’ but most of the interaction was based around how many times Katsuki could hit him before it was time to head home.

Izuku had heard all the insults before, being called worthless and trash and the like. He was more or less used to it, but for some reason it just hit differently that day. The words stung more and knocked more air out of him than the punches did.

At first he wanted nothing more than to ask Master Aqua if he could take the day off and just spend it at home. His home. That was until he got a text from his mother saying she wouldn’t be home that night due to the influx of patients and the fact that by the time she  _ did  _ get off it’d be way too dark for her to feel safe to travel across town. So she was spending the night at the hospital, again.

Izuku knew he could just pick something up on his way home and warm it up when he got hungry but he just couldn’t bring himself to. He just wanted to lay down and sleep, if not that then just have time to zone out. But he didn’t necessarily want to be alone in an empty house.

He sighed and pulled out his phone to see a text from Aqua, asking if he was still coming to the field to train that day. 

He stared at the words for a moment, trying to get himself to focus long enough to type out an actual response rather than imagine one. His fingers hovered over the keyboard twitching a bit before he began to type.

_ “I’m not feeling very good today” _

_ “Is everything okay? Are you feeling sick?” _

She was quick to reply. It took him a bit longer than he’d like to answer back.

_ “It’s just a day.” _

_ “Can I still come over?” _

_ “Of course!” _

Izuku sighed and pocketed the phone and began his trek over there. It had been a while since he had a day like that, where he was just mentally and physically exhausted despite not doing much. He  _ almost _ forgot how much they sucked.

He considered using Cure to heal himself again, yeah it would leave him even more tired but at least he wouldn’t have to sit through uncomfortable questioning by his Master. Knowing how upset she’d get that this happened again. She was upset at Katsuki, not Izuku. He always had to remind himself of that, she never blamed him for getting hurt.

At some point after his breakdown, which he still kind of embarrassed about despite the major relief it brought, he ended up telling her how he was treated as a Quirkless person. The insults, how little faith everyone had in him, especially his teachers. She was horrified, and it was an understatement to say she was angry. She was  _ enraged _ , he could feel it radiating off her at the time. She hadn’t known how badly Quirkless people were treated, she knew there was some prejudice against them; but she hadn’t thought it was as bad as he described.

He pulled out his phone again and plugged his headphones in and put on a podcast he had been putting off listening to. He didn’t really listen to it, couldn’t bother to focus on the words that turned into gibberish after a while. It was just some background noise to listen to.

By the time the episode was halfway through he had made it to his destination. He shimmied through a small opening after putting his things away. He stumbled forward but stayed on his feet. He was greeted with a few hello’s that he mumbled back some replies.

No sooner had he placed his bag down did his Master come out of the next room.

“Hey you, I was wondering where you were. Is everything...oh my god Izuku what happened to you?” She walked over briskly and looked him over. Looking over the burn on his cheek and bruising around one of his eyes.

“Kacchan er...I wasn’t paying attention and he dragged me off.”

“That boy,  _ again _ .” She huffed, hating that she had already known the answer. “Come here.” She gently took his arm and guided him to the table and sat him down. “Stay there I’ll get something for you.”

Izuku looked confused as she walked off towards a cabinet. He thought she would have used a healing spell rather than actually dress his wounds this time around. She grabbed something from inside while murmuring to herself. 

She handed him a small bottle filled with some bluish, green liquid with some stuff floating around in it. Shaped like tiny stars.

“What’s this for?”

“This is a little something called a potion, go ahead and drink it.” She nodded.

Izuku stared at it and looked back up at her before going back to the bottle. Why not, he figured.

He uncorked the bottle and gulped down the contents quickly, almost gagging on the sweetness of it. He emptied the bottle and sighed, almost gagging again as the sweetness lingered on his tongue. Though the small things that were apparently some kind of gummies help cut back on it. He was about to ask what it was for when he felt the wounds from earlier start to heal and disappear. He lightly touched his cheek and felt no pain, the other injuries began to fade as well until they were completely gone. 

“Potions are used for healing, quick use items when you can’t use a Cure spell. They don’t always go down easy, but in the heat of battle you don’t really mind the taste.” She smiled, ruffling his hair.

“Thank you.” He muttered.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked.

Izuku shook his head. “It’s just been a day. I’m gonna go lay down, okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll be making dinner in a bit if you want to eat later.”

He nodded and trudged over to the couch before just collapsing onto it. Though not before making sure there wasn’t anyone he would squash. He let himself get comfortable before turning his back to the rest of the room and just lying there.

Aqua sighed and put the empty bottle in the sink before sitting at the table and going over the work she had given Eri earlier that day. She knew that feeling herself, the days where you just wanted to lay down and do nothing. To be alone but not  _ alone _ . 

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and heard a small gasp.

“Izuku’s here!” Eri smiled and hurried down the stairs. She wasn’t even halfway to him when she realized something was wrong. He hadn’t said any kind of greeting in response to her cheer, and he was just laying on the couch. It wasn’t like him to take naps on days like this, usually he’d be studying or writing in his notebooks. 

Eri walked over to Aqua who was almost finished grading her work. She tugged on her shirt.

“What’s wrong with Izuku?” She whispered.

“He’s just having one of those days.” Aqua answered. “You know those days where you don’t feel very good and just want to sit there and not do much?”

Eri frowned, she knew that feeling all too well and she wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. 

“Oh…”

She looked over to him again and slowly walked over. She climbed onto the part of the couch he wasn’t occupying and sat beside him. He looked up at the shift in pressure to see Eri smiling at him. He rested his head again and smiled softly.

Aqua watched them and smiled to herself. She looked at the stairs and reminded herself that there was one unused room they had. 

She thought maybe it was time to put it to use.

  
  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


“I’m heading out!” Aqua announced as she walked down the stairs with her helmet under her arm. The sun had gone down and she had gotten a few hours of sleep so she was ready for her nightly patrol.

“Already?” Izuku looked up from his phone before getting an angry huff in return and forced to put his head down again.

“Stop moving your head Izuku, I’m not done yet.” Eri lightly scolded him and continued to make small braids in his hair. He had to get a haircut, but Aqua would remind him of that later. 

“Eri, sweetie, after you’re done with his hair I need you to brush your teeth and go to bed okay? Izuku, can you braid her hair before she goes to bed?”

“Can do!” Izuku gave her a thumbs up.

“Can we have desert?” Eri asked, pausing her braiding to look up at her. “Please?”

Aqua hummed and looked at the time before looking back at her. “As long as you’re in bed by 10.”

“11.” Eri grinned.

“10.”

“10:50?”

“10:30 take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it!”

“Okay.” Aqua sighed. “Izuku, make sure she gets to bed okay. And I want you to go to sleep early too, no more late nights understand?”

“I got it…”

“If you stay up I’ll know.” She put her hands on her hips.

Izuku glanced over to see one of the older Moogles glance at him before looking back to the book they were reading.

“Got it.” He nodded.

“Stop moving your head!”

“I’m sorry!”

Aqua smiled and walked over to the entrance and put her mask on, bidding them one last goodbye before walking out and covering up the entrance again.

Eri watched her walk out and gave her a little wave before looking back to Izuku. “I’m almost done, there’s not a lot left.”

“Okay, it’s 9:45 so we’ve got 45 minutes.”

“Okay, so we can have some ice cream. Can we watch some more of that game you were showing me?”

“The one with the little fox? The singing one?”

“Yeah, that one.” She nodded, working on the last mini braid.

“Yeah, but only while we eat okay? We don’t want to lose track of time.”

“Why not?” She asked. “If we do we can stay up later.”

“Master will make me run so many laps next training session if we do and she finds out. And she always finds out Eri.”

They look over to the Moogle to see them staring at them and going back to what they were doing. They both shivered and Eri continued.

“But you’re good at laps.” She tied off the last mini braid and smiled. “Done!”

Izuku stood up and stretched before looking down at Eri. “Yeah I’m good at it, but you get tired after a while. You try running a lap with us next time and see how you feel.”

Eri shrugged and followed him to the kitchen where a few Moogles were sitting on the countertop and sipping at some leftover coffee. They were competing to see who could stay awake longer, and so far they were a few hours into their competition. 

Eri grunted as she sat at the table and watched Izuku pull out two bowls and the tub of ice cream. She watched him for a bit before sighing.

“Hey, Izuku?” She asked.

“Yeah?”

“When you get into UA, are you still gonna visit us?” She asked. 

“Huh?” Izuku looked up. “Of course I’m still going to visit, I’m still Master Aqua’s student and I still have a lot to learn from her. Just because I’m training to be a hero there doesn’t mean I’ll stop training to be a Keyblade Wielder. I mean...I don’t even have a Keyblade yet. I’ve still got a long way to go…”

Eri tapped on the table. “But won’t you be really busy?”

“My schedule might be a little more cramped, but I’d find a way to make time to. But that’s a big what if, I don’t even know if I’ll even get into UA.”

“You will.” Eri smiled.

“I dunno…” He quickly gave them both a scoop and put the ice cream away. “I dunno if I’m ready yet. I mean I don’t have a lot of time until the entrance exams take place. I don’t even think I’m ready for the written exam.”

“Why not?” She frowned.

“I-I dunno. I just don’t think I am. I know that it’ll pretty much touch on the stuff we’ve been studying for the last few years and some stuff and some more advanced stuff but yeah.” He sat down beside her and gave her a bowl.

“Well I think you’re gonna do great. You’re gonna be a hero!”

Izuku smiled to himself and pulled out his phone, opening an app and typing in the title “Uh, so what episode are we on again?”

“Three.” She answered, starting on her ice cream. “We were at the part where the fox was in the swamp.”

“I thought he was still in the forest.” Izuku looked at her.

Eri shook her head. “No, he was in the swamp. You just weren’t paying attention to the end of the video.”

“Okay then.” Izuku set the video up and they sat in silence, watching the game play. There were a few times both of them held their breath in anticipation when the character was spotted by an enemy. 

By the time the two had finished and the video was halfway through, Eri was struggling to stay awake. She kept shaking her head to try and stay awake, only to start dozing off again.

Izuku noticed and took the now empty bowls and placed them in the sink. He walked back over and asked for the hair tie she and around her wrist.

“Hm? Oh, okay…” She mumbled and handed him the red hair tie.

Izuku hummed to himself as he braided her hair, feeling her slump over as time went on. It was only 10:20, so at least she’d be getting to bed on time. Aqua and Eri had taught him how to braid hair, he sort of had a basic idea on how to do it. As he would make messy braids with his mother’s hair when he was a kid, but he had no real idea what he was doing.

“Okay, done.” He sighed. “Now let’s go brush our teeth.”

“No…” Eri whined. “It isn’t even 10:30 yet.”

“Yeah, but Master wanted you in bed  _ by _ that time, so we have to start getting ready now.” Izuku turned off his phone and picked her up. She mumbled out a few excuses and protests but couldn’t do much to fight back, she only wanted to argue again once Izuku handed her a toothbrush with toothpaste. 

In the end she lost and resigned herself to bedtime, already half asleep by the time Izuku was tucking her in. 

“Please turn on the nightlight, and don’t close the door…” 

“I know Eri.” Izuku answered and flipped on the small turtle she had on the desk. He smiled as it began to change colors. 

“Goodnight Eri.” He whispered.

Eri shifted in her bed, already fast asleep.

Izuku smiled to himself and stepped out of the room, leaving the door halfway open so there was plenty of light still in her room should she need it.

Izuku sighed and made his way downstairs to wash the bowls. As soon as he put them on the drying rack the Moogle that had been watching them walked over and began to usher him towards the stairs.

“Your turn Kupo, go to bed. She said no more late nights and I intend to make sure it stays that way.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going.” He headed up the stairs with the Moogle still calling after him. 

“If you’re not asleep by the time I go up there to check on the two of you, you’re in for it!”

“Understood!”

Izuku made his way towards the room he called his own now. A few doors down from Eri’s room. 

It was just an empty room before, mostly used for keeping synthesis items away from the younger Moogles who wanted to experiment and possibly waste the rarer items. When he had come by one day and was about to leave later than he meant to, Aqua had surprised him with a room of his own.

He stayed over a lot as it was, she reasoned, and if anything this place seemed like a second home for him. She wasn’t wrong, he  _ did _ consider it home. It was warm and welcome and he was never alone. Not for a second.

He had actually burst into tears when she showed him the room he would call his own. 

He took a deep breath and stepped into his room, mostly closing the door and leaving it ajar should anyone need him. Izuku looked over to the small desk they managed to put together using stuff they found at the beach. There laying open were the sketches he had for his hero costume, so far he had gone through 4 different variations. Each one more different than the last, he still wasn’t sure what he was going for, but at least it was better than his first idea. So that was a start at least.

He ran a hand through his hair and climbed into bed, getting comfortable before staring at the ceiling. 

Things were changing.

He couldn’t deny that.

Things were changing,  _ he _ was changing. 

He had more control over his powers, sure they would get away whenever he was excited or scared, but he was working on that. He didn’t feel as scared of it as he used to, if anything it felt natural. Like something that really  _ was _ part of him, no kind of disconnect that he used to have with it. It was an extension of himself, he couldn’t help but wonder if that was what a Quirk felt like.

Maybe, maybe not. Not that he’d ever know. 

And that was something he was okay with.

Something he wasn’t sure he was okay with, or maybe he was, there were still a lot of feelings flying around it. But something he had been thinking about for a while was his relationship with Kacchan, or maybe...maybe Katsuki was the best way to regard him. He had changed too, maybe not for the best or at least towards Izuku in that regard. He was aggressive, he was mean, abusive.

For a while he was Izuku’s best friend.

He almost felt stupid when he actually started analyzing their relationship, and he realized just how bad it was. For so long he had clung to Katsuki as his best friend, as a source of strength he always admired. Then after a while there were way too many displays of that strength he used to admire, used against him to ‘put him in his place’. 

In the end, clinging to Katsuki only really hurt him. He wanted to be close to this person that was the only one who let him hang around. Even if it meant being teased. He wouldn’t be alone, nobody else would pick on him. Maybe that was it, that was why he had considered Katsuki his best friend even after so long. Maybe in the end he was just afraid of being alone. 

In the end he actually  _ was _ alone. 

Because they weren’t friends, they were just two people who grew up together and grew apart. He never really  _ had _ any friends.

Izuku turned over in his bed and hugged his pillow.

It was a hard pill to swallow, and one he didn’t want to face just yet. And he wouldn’t, instead he’d go to sleep. Like he was supposed to.

The door cracked open and he heard small footsteps walking over to him.

“Kupo?”

Izuku sat up.

“There’s a bug on the stairs…”

Izuku sighed to himself and got up. “Okay, let me see this bug…” 

_ Then _ he’d go to sleep. 

**-.-**

  
  


She was running in the dark, in the twisting and turning labyrinth of the alleyways that never seemed to end.

Footsteps followed after her at a quick pace, she knew the sound of his footsteps. Each tap only added to her terror. She couldn’t get away, not when he was so close, she stood no chance.

She wanted to call out for help but couldn’t find her voice. She couldn’t make a noise to save her life, crying out would mean punishment should she be caught. And she was  _ always _ caught. She could only conjure up the names of those she wanted to cry out for in her mind, maybe if she managed to find her voice they’d come and save her. Take her far away from that place. Her body ached the further she ran, her lungs burning and begging for some kind of relief but she couldn’t stop. She didn’t want to go back to that place, never again. She couldn’t.

If she ever had to, she’d die.

She rounded a corner and sprinted down the path, almost certain that she was close to the end. There had to be an exit somewhere!

She pressed onward, turning another corner and hoping to lose that man until she slammed into a wall. She scrambled to her feet and ignored the pain, turning around to find another way out only to see him standing in her way and blocking her exit.

“Naughty naughty girl, you know what happens when you disobey me.” He narrowed his eyes and took a step towards her. She backed up and looked around, looking for some kind of escape.

His distorted voice surrounded her, making the shadows grow larger and loom over her.

“You belong to me.” He hissed.

No she didn’t, she didn’t belong to anybody! 

She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head.

“N-No...No! I-I don’t-” She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what was behind him. A mangled body thrown off to the side and hardly recognizable. The only thing she  _ had _ been able to recognize was the armor that had once been different blue hues.

“Nobody is coming here to save you, I told you…” He was right in front of her, reaching a hand towards her. “You belong to me, and you always will.”

She was broken into pieces, disassembled into bits of blood and gore and lost to the void. She didn’t exist, not anymore. And all that was left for her was to fall into the unending darkness she’d never escape.

Eri sat up with a gasp and covered her mouth, barely stifling a loud cry. She felt tears burning her eyes and running down her face. She sat in her bed and shook violently as her horn began to crackle with energy. 

She gasped loudly when she saw light gathering around her horn, lighting up the room and casting large shadows on the wall. 

Eri swallowed hard and took a deep breath. In and out, in and out. She had to calm down, if she didn’t she was going to hurt someone and that was the last thing she wanted. Just like Aqua said, take a deep breath, hold it, and let it out.

Eri looked around and saw the light start to die down, she made herself look around the room and find something familiar. There was her night light still changing colors, on the walls were the many drawings she made.

She was okay, she was safe. Chisaki was gone, Aqua made sure of that. She felt her Quirk turn off.

It still didn’t make her fear leave, a terrifying phantom that still haunted her two years later. She was alone, and she really didn’t want to be alone. She wanted Aqua.

Eri looked around before climbing out of the bed and slowly making her way towards the door. The dim hallway light acting as a small beacon of safety.

She slowly opened the door and stepped out into the quiet hall. Without a sound she slowly crept forward, careful to make sure her footsteps were silent. She didn’t want to wake anybody else up over a nightmare.

“Aqua?” She squeaked out, hoping to get some sort of reply. Hoping that maybe, just maybe she came home early. She crept past the Moogle’s rooms, hearing snoring from both rooms. She passed Izuku’s room which was as quiet as ever.

The hallway felt like it went on forever as she made her way towards the room at the end of the hall. She was so thankful for the hall light, the light took away most of her fears and made sure nothing else was hiding from her in the hall. 

Eri hoped with all her heart that Aqua was in her room fast asleep. She quietly opened the door and walked inside. The room was dark and she couldn’t see much, but she knew her way around well enough to navigate through the room quickly.

She hurried over to the bed and reached for where Aqua would be, only to feel a cold space of a still made bed. 

She was still out, she was still gone, and Eri was still alone.

Eri whimpered and hurried out of the room, back to the safety of the lit hallway. She closed the door behind her and stood wide awake in the hallway. 

She was alone, and she didn’t know where to go. She didn’t  _ want _ to be alone, but she didn’t want to bother anybody else. Although, she  _ did _ have one more option.

Eri walked back down the hall, each footstep heavy as she walked forward. It felt like she was on autopilot but she knew exactly where she was going. She just hoped he wouldn’t be angry that she woke him up.

Eri stood outside his door, hand shaking as she opened the door and headed inside. It was a lot hotter in his room than everywhere else. She gulped and approached the bed that was pushed up against the wall. She could hear some mumbling from the body in the bed, something she might have found funny if she wasn’t scared out of her wits. 

Eri scooted closer and looked over to him, he was drooling into his pillow and the blankets were a mess. She took a deep breath and reached over, and tugged on his sleeve.

“Izuku?” She asked and tugged a little harder. “Izuku?”

He stopped mumbling for a minute and opened his eyes. Eri took a step back as he sat up and looked around, rubbing his eyes before seeing Eri beside the bed.

“Huh? Oh, hey Eri is everything…” He stopped when he saw her crying, and managing to not make a sound. “Woah, woah hey what’s wrong?” He swung his legs over the bed and knelt down in front of her.

“I-I had a nightmare…” She mumbled, messing with the hem of her shirt. “I got scared a-and I want...I want Aqua but she’s not here!” She wiped at her eyes. “I’m sorry but I-I didn’t want to bother you b-but I…” She trailed off and started crying loudly.

Izuku put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Eri, you don’t bother me. It’s okay if you need to come to someone, especially since this sounded like a really bad nightmare.”

Eri sobbed and continued to wipe at her eyes. She tried to speak but failed to form words, she could only form incoherent noises as she tried to say what she was thinking. Izuku grabbed his phone off the charger and looked to see it was 4:30 in the morning. Just a little bit before the sun came up. He pocketed his phone and looked back to Eri, keeping a smile on his face.

“Hey, Eri. I know it’s really early in the morning, but you know Master is always back just before the sun rises. The sun will be up soon, so she’s gonna come back soon. Do you wanna wait downstairs for her and greet her when she gets here?” He asked.

Eri took a shuddering breath and nodded quickly, looking confused when Izuku took the blanket off his bed. He gathered it around himself so himself so his hands wouldn’t be occupied, after making sure he could move around with ease he gently picked Eri up and wrapped the blanket around her too.

“This is the safety blanket, as long as you’re wrapped up in it nothing’s gonna happen to you. I promise.” He smiled. It was something his mother used to do with him all the time when he was small and suffered from some kind of night terror. She’d wrap them in some kind of blanket and go to what they considered a safe spot in the house.

Izuku slowly made his way downstairs and made sure not to make noise, he didn’t want to wake anybody else up if he had to. He stepped over the step he knew would make a loud creak and continued his way downstairs. 

Soon enough they were downstairs where the kitchen light was still on, but on the counter a few Moogles were passed out. Only two left awake and furiously drinking coffee, thankfully they paid no mind to the two that should be asleep.Izuku walked over to the couch and made sure nobody was sleeping there before sitting down and adjusting the blanket over them.

“See? Now we’re right here, and as soon as Master comes back you can see her. And I won’t go anywhere until she comes back.” 

Eri clung to him tightly. “You promise?”

“I promise.” He hugged her to assure her he wasn’t moving.

Izuku rubbed her back as she managed to calm down after a while, her sobs dying down and leaving her sniffling quiety. She tugged at Izuku’s sleeve every once in a while just to make sure he was really there, and every time he snapped to attention and asked if she was okay. She would nod and begin to settle down again. 

There was silence for a while, save for the occasional sip and clink from the kitchen. 

Izuku looked down to see Eri starting to doze off but still staring at the door where Aqua was supposed to come through.

“Hey Eri, I know a lot of nightmares can be bad but sometimes it helps when you talk about them. Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked.

Eri shook her head and continued to stare.

“Isn’t the sun going to come up soon? Shouldn’t she be here by now?”

“Yeah, she will be. She’s always here, so don’t worry.”

Eri nodded and pulled the blanket around her tighter. “You’re really warm.” She mumbled.

“Yeah, I’ve always been a bit of a heater. When I was small my mom used to joke around that he didn’t have to turn the thermostat high in the winter, she just had to come to my room and she’d warm up easily.” He hummed. 

“You don’t feel hot?” She asked, yawning and beginning to drift off. 

“Not really no.” He yawned. “Just normal.”

Eri shrugged her shoulder and fell into a light sleep, prompting Izuku to fall asleep as well. Eri was safe, she felt safe and she was heading back to sleep. He sighed and leaned back, falling back to sleep in no time.

**-.-**

  
  


Aqua slowly made her way back to the house, downing a potion as she headed into an alley. She was exhausted, more so than usual. The Heartless were getting stronger, more aggressive, thankfully though she had been able to fight them back without losing anyone that night. At least to her knowledge. If she wasn’t fighting the Heartless she was running away from the heroes that were rather persistent that night. 

She was letting her magic recover, so she wasn’t too keen on using a great deal to heal up the rest of her scrapes and bruises, as well as a few burns but that was something she wasn’t too concerned with. She couldn’t wait to get home and just fall asleep. It was the weekend, so she and the others could sleep in.

She wasn’t going to make Izuku do any hardcore training, not when there were only two weeks until the entrance exams. If anything she just wanted him to focus on studying and maybe a few sets of magic and weapons combat.

Aqua smiled to herself as she turned the corner and saw her home just up ahead, just across the street from where she was. She quickly ran across the street to the somewhat cluttered alley and pushed aside a few boxes to get to the entrance. As quietly as she could she pushed aside some of the trash to reveal the hidden doorway.

Aqua slipped inside and covered up the entrance again to a room. Much to her surprise there was a light in the kitchen. That was a bit concerning, considering that the kids should still be asleep. It wasn’t until she had taken a few steps forward that she became so aware of how warm it was in the room.

The air almost felt thick, she could still breath but it wasn’t very comfortable. She looked around the room and caught sight of two bodies on the couch. She raised an eyebrow and walked over while taking off the mask.

On the couch fast asleep was Izuku and Eri, wrapped up in a blanket. Looking closer she could see Eri clinging onto Izuku for dear life, she had been crying.

Aqua frowned and gently brought a hand up to place it on Eri’s back. 

“Eri? Eri, wake up. I’m home.” She murmured softly. After a moment Eri jolted awake and looked around in a panic before catching sight of Aqua.

“Aqua!” Eri shouted, startling Izuku awake as she jumped out of the blanket and jumped at Aqua who was quick to catch her. “Y-You’re home! You’re okay!” She yelled.

“Yeah, I’m home Eri.” She hugged her as Eri began to tear up again. “What happened? Is everything okay?” She asked, already knowing the answer. 

“She had a nightmare…” Izuku said as he sat up.The heat in the room began to dissipate.

“He was- He was back!” Eri buried her face into Aqua’s shoulder. “He was back, a-and he cau-caught me and you…he, he used his Quirk t-to…” She shook her head and Aqua was quick to catch on.

“No, I’m okay Eri I promise. I promise that you’re okay, you’re safe. He’s gone and he can’t hurt you anymore.” She murmured, rubbing her back. “I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere.”

“I-I couldn’t find you when I woke up! You were gone and I…” She swallowed hard. 

“I decided we could wait for you to come home, since that seemed like the best thing to do.” Izuku shrugged.

Aqua nodded and smiled at him. She slowly walked up and down the room while Eri calmed down. “Are you feeling a little better?” Aqua asked softly once she began to quiet down. Eri nodded and put her head down.

“Are you ready to go back to sleep?” She asked.

Eri shrugged and yawned, her breaths still a little uneven.

“Why don’t you sit here with Izuku for a little bit while I go wash up, and as soon as I’m done I’ll come back to tuck you in. Does that sound good?” She asked.

Eri looked up and slowly nodded, letting go of Aqua so she could sit back down on the couch.

“I’ll be 15 minutes tops.” She promised. Aqua turned and hurried up the stairs, leaving the two alone again. From where they were they could hear the sound of a door opening and shutting.

Eri rubbed at her eyes and gathered the blanket around herself. “What time is it?”

“About 5:30.” Izuku answered, trying to wake himself up. It was a somewhat reasonable hour to be up, but he just wanted to go back to sleep.

“It feels like she was gone a long time.”

“It does, doesn’t it?”

Eri looked up at Izuku and frowned when she saw his hair. “Some of your braids got messed up.” She muttered, reaching up to mess with his hair again. Izuku lowered himself so she could reach easier and let her rebraid some parts of his hair that came undone in his sleep. 

15 minutes came and went, and by the time Aqua came back downstairs she was met with the sight of a half asleep Eri messing with Izuku’s hair. Izuku had let her, and looked like he was already asleep. 

She smiled to herself and went over to pick Eri up. Eri let out a small whine before realizing it was Aqua. “I didn’t finish his hair…” She mumbled.

“You can finish it when you wake up again, you look tired.”

Eri nodded and laid her head down while Aqua made the trip upstairs again to tuck her in. Her fears from earlier fading away with her mere presence. 

After a while Izuku realized he was alone when the feeling of his hair being played with was gone. Figuring Aqua was tucking her back in he got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen. He figured it was best to eat something before going back to sleep. He grabbed some cereal and milk, then walked over to the coffee machine where the two Moogles were still going at it.

One of them was vibrating while drinking yet  _ another _ cup of coffee while the other seemed to be just fine. Izuku grabbed the half empty coffee pot behind them and a cup from the cupboard. He wasn’t paying attention as he poured one thing into another, put everything away and sat down.

“Kupo! Don’t drink that coffee, you’ll end up seeing things.” One of them tried to stop him.

“Don’t listen to them kupo, he’s been up all night.” The other sighed.

Izuku shrugged and took a bite of his cereal, realizing he had put coffee in the bowl instead of milk. He looked at his cup to see milk. Izuku groaned internally and poured a little bit of milk into the bowl and took another bite. It actually wasn’t that bad. 

“Is that...is that coffee in your cereal?” He heard Aqua ask behind him.

“Mistakes were made, but it’s a pretty tasty mistake.” Izuku hummed.

“You should go to sleep.” Aqua ruffled his hair and grabbed a bowl for herself. 

“I was hungry, and you should sleep too Master. You look tired.” 

“Well maybe I’m hungry too.” She made her way to the coffee machine and grabbed the pot. “Is this decaf?” She asked the two Moogles. 

“Nope.” They answered.

Aqua sighed and poured herself a cup anyway. “You two better not have used all the caffeinated coffee.” 

“We didn’t.”

“Good.”

She sat herself down in front of Izuku and dug into her breakfast. “As soon as you’re done eating, back to bed with you.”

“Got it.”

The two ate in silence for a bit before Aqua spoke up again.

“You’re curious about it aren’t you?” She asked. “About what Eri was talking about…”

Izuku kept his head down and pushed around bits of the cereal. “Well, kind of but it’s none of my business and it seems like a touchy subject.”

Aqua hummed and sipped at her coffee. It  _ was _ a touchy subject, for more reasons than one. But it was something he should know about, just in case something should ever happen. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he actually heard of the fight that was a result of all that, or at least the aftermath.

“Two years ago I saved Eri from a villain, he was a horrible man who would hurt anyone who got in his way. I ran into her while she was running away from him, I didn’t find out what was happening to her until the next time she had managed to get away, she had run all over the place just to find me.”

“But at least she found you, that’s a good thing, right?” He asked. “You…”

“He managed to track us down, and then he raised hell and took her back.” She looked down. “I was actually really,  _ really _ lucky to survive that encounter. One wrong move and he would have torn me to pieces, but  _ oh _ I made him wish he did.” She looked towards the stairs. “I went through whatever resources I had to to get to Eri, it took me forever but I finally found out where he took her. Then I raised a hell of my own. I’m glad I managed to keep the damage to a minimum, especially since it was near a few residential areas.”

Izuku gasped. “Wait, was that fight the one with the monster in the sky? The one with the six arms in broad daylight?” He asked.

Aqua nodded. “Yes, that’s the one. Honestly, I was surprised it hadn’t been broadcasted as much as other fights, though that was a blessing in itself too. I had been able to fight mostly uninterrupted, the heroes hadn’t shown up until later in the fight where he…” She sighed. “He turned into a monster, a  _ real _ monster. The darkness consumed him inside and out.”

Izuku took note of how tightly she was holding her cup, if her grip was any stronger she might shatter the glass. 

“You had to…” He trailed off.

She nodded. “I came out of that fight messed up in more ways than one, but I saved her. That was the most important thing to me, I got her away from that place. I went through hell and back for Eri, and I’d do it again just so she can be happy.” Aqua sighed. 

Izuku looked down at his food again and hummed. “You’re her hero.” He muttered. “I guess being a hero is really hard sometimes.”

Aqua nodded and sipped away at her coffee, her mind going back to that day. She herself had nightmares about it too sometimes, either being torn apart by his Quirk should she have gotten too close. Or sometimes it was her Master looking at her in shame, she had still taken a life as vile as it was. She could only imagine how much he’d disapprove of that, that was not a day his spirit was smiling down upon her. 

After a while she sighed and down the rest of her coffee and took an empty bowl to the sink. She looked over her shoulder to see Izuku mindlessly scrolling through his phone, most likely new articles if she had to guess.

“Are you done eating?” She asked.

Izuku looked down. “Uh, yeah.”

“Then go to bed.”

“But-”

“I’ll take care of the dishes.”

“But I can-”

“Bed. Now.”

“Right, okay. Understood.” He scrambled out of his chair and hurried up the stairs. Aqua listened to him take the stairs two at a time and heard the opening and closing of his door. She heard a bit of shuffling before it quieted down.

Aqua sighed and shook her head. “What am I going to do with you?”

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


“Are you excited?” Aqua asked, watching Izuku pace up and down the length of the room. He was fiddling with the hem of his jacket, occasionally sparking and zapping himself. Eri followed him in his pacing, keeping enough distance so she wouldn’t get zapped as well.

“I’m nervous!” Izuku answered. “Ugh, I think I’m gonna be sick.” 

It was the morning of the exam, and as Aqua suspected would happen, as the day of the exam grew closer he’d get more and more nervous until his anxiety full-blown and he was freaking out. 

“You’re gonna do great.” Aqua assured him, stepping forward and stopping him in his tracks. There was a small zap that didn’t faze her. “You’ve been training for 10 months, you’ve given it your all and studied everything you could. Look at yourself Izuku, you have come so far from where you started.” She smiled. 

Izuku looked up at her and bit his lip, trying to keep himself from mumbling. 

“So here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to relax, and you’re going to stop worrying. Why? Because you’re ready. You hear me? You are ready.” She smiled down at him.

Aqua stepped back after a moment and looked him up and down. He was still tense, but some of his anxiety left him.

“Izuku.” She grabbed his attention.

“Yeah?” He asked.

“Repeat after me. You can do this.” 

“Wh-What?” He asked. “Why…”

“Trust me.”

Izuku sighed and shrugged. “I can do this…”

“Louder.” Aqua said.

Izuku fiddled with his hands before standing up straight. “I can do this.”

“You’ve come so far.”

“I’ve come so far.”

“You’re gonna do great!” Eri added.

“I’m gonna do great.” He said it louder, a smile on his face.

“You’re ready.” Aqua grinned.

“I’m ready!” He shouted.

Aqua glanced at her phone and nodded. “Now get going, you don’t want to be late.”

“Oh yeah, I’m cutting it kinda close.” He looked at his own phone before jumping. “Okay, I’m going! I’ll see you later Master!”

“Good luck!” Eri called after him.

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  



	5. Exam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The UA entrance exam

Exam

Izuku sighed as he looked up at the towering buildings of UA, staring up in awe and excitement. 

“Wow, UA. I’m actually here…” He muttered. He was frozen in place before taking a deep breath and walking forward. 

_ I’m actually here, I’m at UA. I’m gonna take the exam, I’ve worked my way from the bottom to be ready for this. _

Izuku grinned to himself. 

_ I’m gonna be a hero! _

The thought left as quickly as it came when he tripped over his own foot, seeing the ground rushing up quickly to meet him. 

_ Or I guess I’ll die. I suppose that’s an option too. I’m sorry Master, I’ve failed you. _

Before he could slam to the floor he was stopped, he made a noise of confusion before looking down to see himself floating.

“Huh? W-Wait what?” He tried to get back to his feet when he heard a girl start to giggle from right beside him. 

“Sorry about that.” She apologized and righted him. “I probably should have asked before using my Quirk, but I figured you wouldn’t have minded.” She smiled and pressed the pads of her fingers together. 

“O-Oh, uh...thank you.” He stammered, turning his gaze to the entrance again. 

“It’s no problem, really.” She shook her head before going quiet. The two stood still for a moment before the girl cleared her throat. “Well uh, I guess I’ll see you inside.” She gave a small wave before leaving.. 

“Uh, s-see ya…” He mumbled softly as he watched her run ahead and into the building. He stood still at the entrance for a short time before coughing into his hand and feeling his face grow warm. 

_ She seemed really...really nice. Yeah, really nice! _

He stood frozen in place before getting a hard shove that nearly sent him to the ground.

“Woah!” He stumbled forward and righted himself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get in the-”

“What the hell are you doing here nerd?”

Izuku flinched at the voice and hesitantly looked over his shoulder. Standing there with small sparks along his palm was none other than Katsuki. Of course it was his luck he’d run into him right before the exam. 

“Uh, I-I’m taking the exam…?”

Katsuki scowled and clenched his fists to prevent an explosion. “I thought I told you I didn’t want to see you here nerd. Do you not know how to listen, or are you stupid enough to think you’ll pass?”

Izuku paled and slowly began to back up, feeling the eyes of spectators on the both of him. “It doesn’t hurt to t-try. And you can’t really tell me what to do...Katsuki.” He continued to back up, putting some space between them.

“What!” He yelled.

Izuku whirled around and ran forward. “See you in the exams good luck!” He sputtered and ran inside, apologizing as he rushed past a few people. 

_ He’s gonna kill me for saying that, why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut and leave out the second part that would have been the smart thing to do! _

Once he was sure there was enough distance between them Izuku slowed down and went with the flow of the crowd. They were all heading to the same spot, a large auditorium. The mere size of the place amazed Izuku, it was hard to think that such a big place was inside the building, the outside almost made it seem smaller than it really was. 

“So cool.” He whispered to himself. He took a quick glance around before stepping into a random row and walking down the seats until he found a spot where he could see clearly. The seat on one side was empty, but in the next seat was a boy who sat hunched over. His purple hair was wild and went everywhere, his eyes focused on the podium where their instructor would arrive soon. 

“Uh, hi.” He greeted softly and gave a small wave. “Do you mind if I sit here?” Izuku pointed at the seat beside him.

His questions seemed to startle the boy out of his thoughts and prompted him to look up at the nervous newcomer. He looked over Izuku before shrugging and looking forward again.

“Knock yourself out.”

Izuku nodded his thanks and sat next to the boy. He didn’t seem like the social type so Izuku kept to himself. He was probably hyping himself up and getting ready for the exam, he reasoned. It’d be rude to interrupt that. 

Izuku fiddled with the card in his hands, he had gotten it at the entrance as a way of checking in. There was his information on it, as well as a large letter B in one of the boxes. He wasn’t too sure what it meant but he figured he’d find out soon enough.

Before he knew it everyone was seated and the lights of the auditorium were turned off, save for the ones focused on the stage. 

“Hey hey hey, welcome UA candidates. Thanks for coming out and tuning in to me, your school DJ! Now let me hear ya shout!” He yelled and put a hand to his ear, only to be met with silence.

“I see, I see, keeping it mellow. Alrighty then, let’s go over how the practical exam is gonna go. Ya ready?” He shouted the last part again in an attempt to hype everyone again. Once again he was met with silence.

Izuku couldn’t help but vibrate in his seat from sheer excitement.

“It’s Present Mic, the Voice Hero!” He whispered. “So cool! I listen to his radio show every day of the week! Oh man it’s crazy that all the UA teachers are pro heroes.” He muttered, unaware of the light sparks dancing around him.

“I see you’re a fanboy.” The boy next to him muttered. “Hey, your Quirk is acting up.”

“O-Oh, sorry!” 

“Like your application says, today you all are gonna perform your exam in some hip urban settings! These mock battles last 10 minutes and after this neat presentation you all are gonna head to your designated battle spots ya hear?”

The screen behind the hero displayed seven different boxes with letters in them, making everyone look to their cards again.

_ So that’s what the letters are for, they’re dividing everybody up so no one from the same school can help each other… _

“Okay now let’s check out your targets everybody! As you can see there are three types of faux villains for you to take on. Each one is worth either 1, 2, or 3 points so choose wisely and try to rack up as many points as you can! But check yourself kiddos, make sure you keep things heroic because attacking other examinees is a big ‘ol UA no no!” 

“I guess that protects some people from the wrath of other examinees huh?” Izuku muttered to himself, glancing at the head of blonde hair a few rows below. “Hopefully we’re in different battle stations…”

“Got someone here that doesn’t like you?” The boy beside him raised an eyebrow.

Izuku laughed nervously. “I guess you could say that.” 

“Excuse me, sir!” One of the students called out a few rows below. “I have a question.”

“Go ahead!” Present Mic pointed at the direction of the student, prompting a spotlight to flash on him.

“On the printout you’ve listed four types of villains, not three. With all due respect if this is an error on UA materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students and we expect the best from the most notable school in Japan. Additionally you up there in the back, with the unkempt hair!”

Izuku looked around before pointing at himself. “M-Me?”

“Yes, you! You have been muttering this entire time, stop that. If you can’t bother to take this seriously like the rest of us then you should just leave. You’re being a distraction.” He glared at Izuku who shrank into his seat and covered his mouth.

“I’m sorry…” He felt his face heat up as a few people around him began to laugh at him. Once again sparks appeared around him, lightly zapping the two sitting next to him. The blonde on his left didn’t seem to mind but the purple haired boy grunted.

“Ow, hey cool it.”

“I’m sorry!” He apologized again and took a deep breath. He had to get a hold of himself, this was just the introduction. He was getting anxious over nothing, he was going to be fine. A moment later the sparks died down. He could almost hear Master Aqua telling him to stop worrying, her words from this morning echoing in his mind.

He had worked so hard, he could do this, he had come so far.

“Alright examinee number 7111, thanks for calling in. You see the fourth villain type is worth 0 points, that guy is just an obstacle we’ll be throwing in your way. There’s one in every battle center, think of it as a hurdle to avoid. It’s not that it can’t be beat, but let’s face it there’s no point to it.”

“I see, thank you sir. Please continue. The stern boy sat down as a few students began to murmur to themselves. 

“Now, you ready to go beyond?” He asked, staring at the entire audience. “Now let’s hear it, Plus Ultra!” He shouted. “Good luck!”

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


Izuku took a deep breath as he stared at the gates to the mock city. He had to admit it was pretty impressive. He could only imagine the cost of making these things, especially if they were destined to be destroyed at some point.

He looked around and caught sight of the girl from the entrance, the one who caught him. He could see her doing what looked like a breathing exercise and murmuring to herself. Izuku felt his face grow warm as he began to walk over to her.

_ Maybe I should wish her luck. She was nice enough to do so for me, besides it couldn’t hurt to say hi again. Right? _

Before he could get very far a hand grabbed his shoulder and kept him from going any farther. Izuku jumped and looked over his shoulder to see the stern boy from the auditorium.

_ Oh no, he’s here too? _

“What do you think you’re doing?” He narrowed his eyes before looking at the girl he was trying to walk over to. “She looks like she’s trying to focus. You were going over to her, do you intend to bother her? Ruin her chances?” He asked.

“W-What? No! Of course not, I just wanted to wish her luck. Why would I wanna ruin her chances?” Izuku waved his hands around. 

Izuku laughed nervously and looked down. 

“Right, let’s start!” A loud voice spoke up from above. 

Everyone looked up to see none other than Present Mic standing on top of a large building, waving his arms and pointing at the open gates.

“Come on, get moving! There are no countdowns in a real battle! Run run run listeners, you’re wasting airtime!”

Everyone was still for a second before breaking into a run and heading towards the gates. Izuku had almost tripped over himself when trying to pull ahead. 

“Okay, 10 minutes, I’ve 10 minutes.” He muttered to himself as he split off from the large group on the first side street he could. Too many people in one place meant all the villains would be taken out in no time. He had to move somewhere else less crowded.

“Okay, just calm down. You’ve got plenty of time. Just focus on taking down the villains, you’ll be fine.” He turned another corner and ran forward. Just as he was halfway down the street one of the walls broke down and a robot came rushing out.

Izuku gasped as the villain skidded to a stop and looked up at him. A large 1 was painted on one of the arms.

_ A 1 pointer! _

“Target acquired.” A robotic voice spoke as it looked up at the boy. “Commencing attack.” It rushed forward and reached a mechanical limb towards him.

Izuku grunted and dodged to the side.

_ Time to put what I learned into practice, just keep calm! _

Izuku held his hands out and shouted as he flung an ice spike towards the robot. It stopped and quickly turned around to try and attack again, only for the spike to drive itself into the glowing red eye. The robot stopped and flailed around a bit before Izuku ran forward and threw another ice spike at the main body. The villain flailed around before collapsing.

“Okay one point!” Izuku nodded to himself. He was about to run forward when he noticed a pipe lying on the ground, part of the wall the robot destroyed. Izuku hurriedly picked it up and moved on.

_ I have to conserve my magic energy, it’s finite and I won’t have enough time to recover much while fighting. Gotta save some where I can. _

Izuku ran into a mostly empty street where a few robots were waiting. 

“Perfect!”

His voice seemed to activate a few of them and made them look up. He thought the one-pointers were big, but the two and three-pointers were a lot bigger. Without warning a group rushed towards him.

Izuku ran forward and dodged to the side, grimacing at the dent in the concrete. He had to be careful. He swung the pipe as hard as he could and caught a two-pointer in the side. He backed up and gathered some fire in his free hand.

_ They’re meant for exams, beginners essentially, so they shouldn’t be too tough.  _

Izuku yelled and threw the fire forward, much to his disappointment it didn’t do much other than weaken the metal armor. He frowned and ran up to the two-pointer and dug the metal pipe in. No sooner when he had ripped it out a three-pointer was about to bring a fist down on him. 

_ Block it! Block it! _

Izuku threw his hands up and a barrier appeared. The fist slammed into it and shattered the barrier, sending Izuku back a bit.

_ Stop using so much magic! _

He turned on his heel and finished off the two-pointer before stepping back and dodging another swipe from the three-pointer. Izuku moved forward and landed a few good hits on the robot before slamming his hands onto it and freezing it over.

Once it was frozen over enough Izuku stepped back and brought down the pipe as hard as he could. The robot shattered and collapsed to the ground.

“Okay, 6 points…” He muttered, looking at some of the robots now heading towards him.

“You’ve got 6 minutes and 2 seconds left!” Mic yelled from above.

Izuku swallowed hard and readied himself. He had to get a move on, he wasn’t going to fail. He was going to pass! He had plenty of time, he could do this!

  
  
  


A group of faculty members watched the screens lining the walls and looked over the different focuses. One of the screens was focused on a boy standing among a pile of robots, his palms smoking. Another camera followed a young man that sped through the streets, taking down enemies as quickly as he could before speeding off with his engine Quirk again.

“It seems we have quite an interesting bunch this year hm?” One of the teachers eyed a camera focused on a girl splashing acid on robots as she ran.

“Yes, we do.” The principal glanced over all the different cameras but kept going back to the one that focused on the boy with green hair. He took down robot after robot, manifesting fire and ice to aid in him taking down the mock villains. Once or twice he had manifested a barrier either for himself or a nearby examinee that was about to be harmed. 

A very versatile ‘Quirk’.

Nedzu looked to the side to see their new teacher watching the same camera. Looking on in concern. That was something he may look into later.

“You’ve got 4 minutes remaining listeners!” A loud shout from the roof.

There was a grunt of annoyance from one of the other teachers but they paid no mind, he was always like that.

There was no audio to the cameras but it was clear to them that there was a lot of arguing going on between the examinees. They could see them shouting at each other for taking a robot, or getting in the way.

“They have no way of knowing how many robots there were in an arena or where they may be. So of course everyone will become frantic over time, especially if they have a low number of points.” Nedzu observed, it was always the same pattern every year. 

“That’s true.” One of the teachers agreed. “But there’s still plenty of time left, and I’d say it’s time to bring out the real test, no?”

They all nodded in agreement as the teacher opened a class case and pressed the button. Watching in excitement to see what they’ll do.

  
  
  
  


Izuku panted as he took down another robot, he wiped some of the sweat from his face as he looked around. There were people everywhere now and either fighting over robots or running off to find new enemies.

Once or twice while looking for a target to take down Izuku had used his Barrier spell to protect someone from an incoming hit. Or pull someone out of the way to narrowly avoid injury. He was supposed to be racking up points sure, but that didn’t warrant leaving someone to get hurt.

Even so he could feel himself start to panic, he was low on magic and if he had to guess even lower on points. He lost count at about 20 or 22, he wasn’t sure how many he had anymore. Either way it probably wasn’t enough to pass. Even worse, he was starting to face some of the backlash of his magic Master Aqua warned him about. Frost coated his arms, and he was beginning to feel overheated, not a good combination at all. 

“I gotta find some more robots. If I don’t I’m gonna fail!” He muttered to himself, about to take off in a random direction when the ground began to rumble. Everyone in the area froze and looked up to the source of the commotion, only to see a giant robot staring down at them. 

“No way, is that the zero-pointer?” Izuku asked himself as he began to back away. “Isn’t this a little extreme?” 

Without warning the robot brought a fist down onto the street, making the ground shake again and kicking up a lot of dust. All around him people began to scream and run away from the menace. 

Izuku backed up and tripped over a piece of rubble, falling on his rear. He stared up at the villain while everybody ran past him. Nobody spared him a glance as they ran to save themselves.

Izuku stared up as the villain as it plowed forward, destroying everything in its path. He had to get out of there, he was going to die if he didn’t! The thought sent panicked sparks dancing across his skin as he managed to get to his feet.

“You’ve got less than two minutes remaining!” 

“What!” Izuku looked towards the voice in shock. He didn’t have enough points, there was no way he did. He was going to fail, everything Master did for him was for nothing!

“Ow!”

Before he could get very far he heard a cry of pain from behind him. Izuku froze in his tracks to look for who was left behind. His eyes widened as he recognized the person trapped beneath the rubble.

_ It’s the girl from earlier! _

She was right in the path of the robot. Destined to be crushed if she couldn’t get out of there.

Without a second thought Izuku threw his weapon aside and rushed forward. He didn’t have time and he had to move fast. He steeled himself as he ran into the cloud of dust and over to the girl.

He skidded to a stop and knelt down to try and get some of the rubble off of her. He didn’t falter as the girl gasped in surprise.

“It’s you!”

Izuku nodded and got to work as fast as he could. He managed to get a few pieces off when he noticed the robot was getting too close. They were running out of time. He wasn’t strong enough to lift all of the rubble by himself.

“You have to get out of here, I don’t think that robot is going to stop for anything!” She told him, still trying to get her leg free.

Izuku shook his head as he tried to come up with a plan. He wasn’t going to leave her behind, nobody was going to die in this exam!

“I’m not strong enough to lift this.” He muttered, forming a plan in his head. “I can’t lift it. Any barrier is too weak, it was barely enough for the robots. Is there any way I can destroy it, or at least stop it?” 

There had to be a spell that could stop the robot. Something devastating and powerful, but he didn’t have that kind of power yet. 

_ But maybe I do...it’d take what magic I have left and a lot of my stamina but… _

Izuku didn’t debate it any longer, he didn’t have time to. He was going to stop this robot right here. Right now.

“I’ll be right back.” He promised before getting up and putting some distance between them. He ran so he was right in the middle of the robot’s path, there was no way he could miss.

Izuku smiled to himself as he gathered up all the energy he could, bright yellow sparks dancing around his body and growing more fervent the more energy he put into it. He had to put everything he could into this.

_ Master is going to be so mad when she finds out about this _ .

As the spell built up Izuku thought back to one of the first lessons they had gone over.

_ “Magic is powerful, very versatile and very useful in a fight. But, there are drawbacks, especially for beginners such as yourself using bare hand casting as opposed to using a Keyblade, which makes backlash much less severe. The backlash of a spell is no joke, you’ve dealt with it a few times now and you know how painful it can be. It can also be dangerous if pushed too far.” _

_ “Does the backlash depend on the spell you’re using?” _

_ “Yes. You’ve dealt with fire and blizzard’s backlash. Overheating and burning yourself, and being coated in ice respectively.” _

_ “What about Aero and Water?”  _

_ “Those two aren’t as severe. You’ll be a little windswept with Aero, in Water’s case you’ll just get soaked at the worst. The one spell you need to be the most careful with is Thunder.” She warned. _

_ “Why’s that?” He asked. _

_ “Thunder is more than useful in any fight, it can cover a wide area or be a single strike. It’s all about control and manipulating it. But, those who are inexperienced will face quite a bit of backlash if used too much at a time or too much in one go. You can temporarily paralyze yourself or go numb. Although in the worst, more rare cases, there is the possibility of stopping your heart.” _

_ “...What!” _

_ “Yeah, so you have to be careful. Magic is useful, but it must be respected and used carefully. Understand?” _

_ “Understood.” _

  
  


Izuku looked up at the robot that was almost on top of them, it was now or never and he gathered as much energy as he could. 

_ Yup. _ He thought to himself.  _ Master Aqua is gonna kill me. _

Izuku looked up to the robot. Body shaking from the immense power he had gathered for himself.

Green eyes sparked as he raised a hand to the sky, commanding his magic.

“Thundaga!” He screamed.

For a moment there was silence, the sparks had dispersed and the robot kept moving forward. Until a great bolt of lightning shot down and struck down on the giant robot. The sparks went everywhere, narrowly missing the girl that finally managed to get free but hitting the spellcaster directly.

Izuku held back cries of pain as the undisciplined lightning went everywhere and wreaked havoc on the environment. It couldn’t have been longer than a minute or two, but to Izuku it felt like an unbearable eternity.

When it finally stopped it was quiet, everybody had gone silent. Even the faculty watching the display. A moment later the robot began to collapse and fall apart, parts of the machinery exploding and falling to the ground in a cascade of metal and wires.

Izuku panted, black dots began to fill the edges of his vision before he began to fall.

Before he could hit the asphalt a pair of arms caught him and lowered him to the ground. He glanced up through his hazy vision to see the girl looking over him in concern.

“Are you okay! Can you move?” She asked while keeping a hand over her mouth.

“Backlash…can’t move.” He slurred. It was true, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t feel anything either.

“And that’s it folks! Time is up!” Present Mic shouted from the rooftops.

Izuku flinched at the loud siren that signaled the end of the exam. It was finally over, and he didn’t know if he had enough points to even be  _ considered _ for the Hero Course!

Izuku passed shortly after, leaving the kind girl looking over him in worry. As she panicked an old woman walked onto the field. 

“Very nice, good work all around! I’m proud of all of you!” The old woman approached the group of examinees. Giving them gummies and moving on. As she passed someone mentioned her name, Recovery Girl. A few people realized that she’s the only reason UA can be so reckless with their exams.

She slowly walked over to the panicking girl with an unconscious Izuku in her arms.

“My my, what on earth happened here?” She asked.

“H-His Quirk! He said there was backlash and that he couldn’t move! And then he just passed out!” She answered.

She looked over him for a moment before nodding to herself.

“He’ll be okay, he’s just exhausted. Anybody else injured?” She looked around.

The faculty sat in shock and silence as the robot finished falling apart, Nedzu grinned to himself and clapped his paws together which did not go unnoticed by one of the teachers. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, he had a feeling this one was going to be a problem child, whether he actually made it into his class or not.

Nedzu grinned to himself as the screens began to shut off.

Never did he think he would find a magic user from this world!

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


“Izuku? Izuku?”

Inko looked worriedly at her son as he stared at the fish head with a blank look on his face. He wasn’t responding, making her nervous. 

“Snap out of it, Izuku?” 

Izuku blinked and looked up to see his mother staring at him with concern.

“Why are you smiling at that fish? Should I be worried about you honey, is everything okay?”

Izuku sputtered and shook his head. “O-Oh! Sorry no, I just spaced out for a second.” He stammered and began to shovel food in his mouth.

Inko had taken a few days off from her job at the hospital to spend some time with Izuku, but she couldn’t stay forever. Not with more and more people coming by injured every day and night. Whether it be Heartless or villains someone was always getting hurt. Izuku was more than happy to spend time with his mother, even if she couldn’t stay very long.

Izuku stared at the text messages on his phone as he sat on the couch, changing positions every few minutes. At the moment he was hanging upside down and talking about the exam. He felt a bit of shame as he mentioned what happened.

He was right about getting in trouble with Master Aqua after that attack. She chewed him out and checked him over again and again to make sure there was no lasting damage. Afterwards she made him run lap after lap for what must have been hours before letting up on the punishment. 

Izuku glanced at the conversation before sighing heavily. It had been three days after the exam, and his Master was trying to tell him that he wasn’t going to get answers so quickly. She would try to reassure him again and again, and it would work, but of course the thoughts would creep back in. The terrifying ‘what if’s’. 

Izuku shifted his position again so now he was laying across the couch. A moment later a hand found itself in his messy curls, trying to smooth them over.

“I know worrying about the results must be terrible Izuku, but I want you to know that I think you’re really cool. And I’m proud of you.” Inko smiled down at him and continued to fuss with his hair. 

Izuku smiled to himself and relaxed a bit. His mother always found a way to take the stress away, one way or another. Still though, Izuku couldn’t help but feel a little bit of guilt. He still hadn’t told her about his newfound power, even with his Master encouraging him to do so. 

How exactly was he supposed to start that conversation? ‘Hey mom, guess what, I’ve got a Quirk now? Wanna know what it is?’

“Come on, move over, let’s watch a movie.” She tapped his shoulder and Izuku nodded. He scooted over and sat up so his mother could settle down beside him. She picked up the remote and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels until she found one that was playing a movie they both liked.

Izuku watched the screen for a bit before leaning against her and letting himself relax. He smiled to himself as he felt Inko’s hand in his hair again.

“You should get some rest, you haven’t been sleeping well ever since the exam. Don’t give me that look, I can see those eyebags mister.” She looked at him before looking back to the television. 

Izuku made a noise of acknowledgement and made himself more comfortable. “Don’t wanna go to sleep.” He muttered, trying to keep his eyes open.

“Why’s that?” She asked, smiling to herself as she heard him starting to dirft off.

“Weird dreams.” He answered. “I keep thinking I’m falling from somewhere and I just, you know wake up.”

“Dreams can be pretty weird.” Inko murmured. “But they’re just dreams, and maybe your weird dreams are because you’re so stressed out. I don’t want you to get so wound up about this okay? You did great, I know you did.”

“Yeah, I guess...Thanks mom.” He nodded.

“Get some rest Izuku.”

No sooner as she had said that, Izuku had already drifted off. Muttering softly in his sleep, a habit he never grew out of. Inko smiled to herself and continued to play with his hair. She wasn’t around as much as she’d like to be, coming home only once or twice a week if she was lucky.

The trip from the hospital and the house was long. Especially in the night, she didn’t want to risk getting attacked. Not again, not when her son still needed her. So she would opt to spend the night in the hospital, as many other doctors and nurses would. There was a loud buzzing from the coffee table, coming from her phone. She elected to ignore it for the moment.

This was her time to spend at home, her time to relax and spend time with Izuku. She never missed the looks of excitement he gave her when she said she’d get days off, or the way his voice picked up when she’d call to tell him as such.

Inko leaned back and smiled to herself. Everything was fine as it was now, she just wanted to bask in this quiet time and enjoy it. That was all she needed.

**-.-**

  
  


When he opened his eyes he was in that place again. He’s been there a few times now, but every time he woke up the memory of the place would fade. Memories that would slip through his fingers and fade away. This time though, he hadn’t woken up in a shock, it looked like he was there to stay for the moment,

He didn’t feel real in that place, like he wasn’t really there. Like he was going to disappear at any second. His presence in this strange place was fragile, at any moment the ground was going to shatter beneath him and cast him into an unending darkness.

There was a bright light above him, shining down and illuminating everything before him. The platform he stood on had its own light, depicting a young woman with an apple in her hand. He took a step forward and froze when there was a low rumble from the ground. 

Three pedestals appeared from the ground, an object appearing on each with a bright flash. A sword, a shield, and a staff.

Izuku didn’t move, questions flew around his head as he eyed each object.

_ What is this place? Why am I here? Am I supposed to choose? What happens if I do, what happens if I don’t? _

Izuku glanced around before a soft voice spoke to him, it was familiar but at the same time foreign. It sounded like people he knew and interacted with all the time, yet it was still a voice of its own.

_ “Power sleep within you, if you give it form...it will give you strength.” _

Quiet and patient, as if it has seen this kind of thing all the time and knew what to expect. Izuku looked around and took a step forward, his footsteps were deafening in the void. He slowly approached the pedestal that held the staff.

A long green handle with a strange design at the top, a large sphere with two smaller spheres on the top, almost making a head of sorts. He reached out and grasped it, holding it up to look it over.

_ “The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?” _

“Wonder and ruin…” He muttered, frowning at the staff. He put it back and stepped away from the staff. Choosing to walk over to the sword.

He grabbed the sword, feeling the heavy weight it carried. 

_ “The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction.” _

Izuku flinched at the last word, destruction. Ruin, chaos, death,  _ villains _ . He quickly put the sword away and backed up from the pedestal. He swallowed hard and looked to the shield, walking over and gingerly taking it from the stand.

_ “The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all.” _

Izuku gripped the shield tightly. A guardian, a hero, someone who protects. That’s the kind of hero he wants to be, someone who will be there to save everyone with a smile. Someone who would always be there.

_ “Is this the power you seek?” _

Izuku stared at the shield and nodded. “Yes, this is the power I want.” He answered. As soon as he finished speaking the shield disappeared in a flash of light. 

_ “Your path is set. Now, what will you give up in exchange?” _

“I have to give something up?” Izuku asked, turning to the two remaining pedestals. The sword and the staff. He stared at the two for a moment, thinking over what the voice had said about them. A sword of terrible destruction, or a staff of wonder and ruin. Warrior or mystic. Invincible courage or inner strength. Which was he willing to lose?

Izuku stepped down from the pedestal and eyed the staff for a moment before turning away and walking to the sword. He hesitantly took the sword again, it felt heavy in his hands.

_ “You give up this power?” _

Izuku nodded. “Yes.”

Just like the shield the sword disappeared in a flash of light. 

_ “You have chosen the power of the guardian. You’ve given up the power of the warrior. Is this the path you want?” _

He looked up and nodded. He was sure this was what he wanted.

The pedestal beneath him collapsed and he fell forward.

“What?” He looked around in shock as the rest of the pedestals sank into the ground. “What’s going on?” He asked loudly, hoping the voice would respond. Izuku looked down and saw the glass falling away into the void. Izuku gasped and tried to back away, only for the rest of the floor to fall out from beneath him. Sending him falling into the darkness below.

Izuku flailed around, watching the green shards disappear around him as he fell faster and faster. The light far above him grew more and more distant, he looked towards where he was falling to see a blue platform appear. A woman in a dress with her head down.

Izuku managed to right himself as his descent slowed, he sighed as he reached solid ground once again. He tapped the ground with his foot to make sure it was stable, afraid the ground would cave in again. Before he could let himself feel relief the shield reappeared in his hand, his hand gripped the handle tightly. The shield almost felt too big.

_ “You have gained the power to fight. Use this power to protect yourself and others, there are times you will have to fight. You must keep your light burning strong.” _

Izuku looked over the shield before noticing a shadow appearing on the ground, it rose up and looked at Izuku with its beady yellow eyes. Another one appeared, and then another. Soon Izuku was surrounded by the erratic monsters. 

“What? They’re here too?” Izuku asked, feeling a bit of panic rise as he held up a hand. He trembled before throwing his hand forward, thinking he had summoned a well practiced flame. Nothing appeared, leading him to panic even more. 

“Where’s my magic?” He asked. “Why can’t I use it?” Izuku stared at his hand before one of the shadows bounded towards him and leapt at him. He yelped and held up the shield, hearing a loud thud and seeing the small shadow fall to the ground. 

_ The voice said I have to fight… _

Izuku yelled as he hit the shadow with the shield, knocking it away as two more came at him. He blocked the swipes at him and knocked them away, only striking when he saw an opening. Izuku shouted as he hit the one closest to him again and saw it fade away with a puff of smoke. The remaining shadows stared at where the shadow died before staring up at Izuku and sinking back into the ground. Slowly disappearing into the pale blue light of the glass. Where the shadows disappeared large pools of darkness came. Growing larger and larger by the second.Izuku tried to stay close to the parts of the platform that weren’t overtaken yet. His efforts were in vain though as the rest of it went dark, and he was dragged down. He struggled violently, fighting to get away before he was consumed by the rest of the shadows.

He continued to fight, trying to find a way out of the darkness. It was suffocating as he fell deeper and deeper until the darkness was washed away with a new warm light. He gasped as he sat up and looked around. The platform was pink this time with three large hearts with silhouettes inside.Izuku looked around as he got to his feet. The voice was gone and wasn’t helping him anymore. Then he’d have to figure it out himself. Izuku continued to glance around until he caught sight of a large door at the other side of the platform. 

_ Is that my way out? _

He looked around before running towards the door, he let himself feel relief as he came up to the door. He grabbed the handles and gave them a hard tug, pulling it open. A bright light shone from within, blinding him for a moment.

When he opened his eyes again he saw he was in his house. 

“What?” Izuku asked himself. He was in his living room, where he had fallen asleep. Was he home now? Was he awake?

“Mom?” He asked. “Are you here?” He walked out of the living room and into the kitchen to see his mother standing there with a blank smile on her face. She seemed focused on what she was making, but at the same time was completely spaced out.

“Mom?” He asked, going up to her. It unsettled him how slowly she turned to him, a blank smile on her face. 

“What’s most important to you?” She asked, no emotion in her voice.

“What? What do you...huh?” 

“What is most important to you?” She asked again.

Izuku stared at her before looking down. He was still in the dream, none of this was real. He wasn’t home, not yet at least. He wasn’t going to move forward unless he answered more questions…

What is most important to him? That was easy, the people around him. His mom, Eri, Master Aqua.

Izuku slowly looked up to the stranger that looked like his mother. “My family. They matter the most to me.”

“Is your family really that important?” She asked.

“What? Yes, of course they-”

There was bright light that blinded him, a warm glow filling the room before it faded away. He slowly opened his eyes and gasped as he found himself in the field he had trained in. Izuku looked around before a small hand grabbed his own.

Izuku gasped and looked down to see Eri.

“Eri?”

She didn’t respond, only giving him a smile before asking him a question.

“What do you want out of life?” She asked.

_ What do I want out of life? _

“I want to be a hero, I want to save and protect people. I want to be the kind of hero that people feel safe around.” 

“To be a hero? Is that really what you want to do?” 

Izuku looked at her in confusion as she let go and stepped away. Another bright light filled his vision and disappeared as quickly as it came. 

Izuku looked around, hoping the questions would be over soon. Seeing these strangers, disguised as people he knew made him feel so uneasy. Maybe them looking like people he knew was supposed to make him feel better, but it only did the opposite. He wanted to go home, he wanted to see his real mom, Eri and…

“Master?” He asked. The light faded away to reveal a strange place he had never seen before. It was bright and warm, a large castle-like structure stood behind her. She slowly turned around to face him. He swallowed hard and walked up to her.

“What are you most scared of?” She asked. Just like the others she smiled at him. 

Izuku stared at her before looking down. “I’m afraid of being alone.” He answered. “Of being weak and left behind, that if I don’t work hard enough nobody will see any use for me. I don’t want to be alone…”

“Is being alone really that scary?” She asked.

Izuku stared at the imposter before turning away. “Yeah, it really is…”

He closed his eyes as a bright light appeared and washed everything away, bringing him back to the dark place. He opened his eyes to see he wasn’t on any platform, he was standing in the darkness all alone.

_ Now where am I? _

Izuku took a deep breath and took a step forward, shouting in surprise as the ground erupted in a flash of light. The darkness began to dissolve and turn into white doves that flew past him. Izuku watched as more and more birds appeared and gave way to a soft green glow.

Izuku watched in awe as they flew around him before taking off into the distance, listening to the cries and flapping wings. He watched them fly into the distance until he couldn’t see them anymore. Izuku slowly looked down and gasped at the revealed platform.

It was himself.

Izuku took in the sight. He saw himself on one side of the platform, reaching out for something or maybe someone. Beneath his outreached arm was a large circle with five portraits within it. He recognized most of the people depicted there. There at the top was Master Aqua smiling, below her were two other people. One of them was the girl from the exam, the one he had saved, beside her was Katsuki who glared ahead. Below those two was the boy from the exam, the one who scolded him; beside him was someone he couldn’t recognize. Maybe someone he hadn’t met yet. An impassive look on his face as he stared into the distance.

He walked over to the portraits, looking over each person and wondering why they were there. Master Aqua he could possibly understand, was it because she was close to him? But these other people, he didn’t even know them. And Katsuki, he hated Izuku in general, so why would he be here?

As he thought this over he saw something that caught his attention, where Katsuki’s portrait was, was what looked like small cracks starting to form. Izuku walked over, looking over the small fractures.

He hesitantly reached a hand out, gently touching the fractures. They were cold, and a dull ache raced through his chest. As soon as he touched one a loud crack filled the air. Izuku gasped and drew his hand back, getting to his feet as the ground began to shake. 

Izuku looked around in fear, watching as the cracks grew wider and wider. A few green shards fell into the swirling darkness that began to overtake the area. Izuku tried to back away, only to find he was frozen in place. The darkness began swirling around him and dragging him down. Izuku shouted in alarm and tried to get free. He was pulled deeper and deeper into the darkness despite his struggles. He tried to drag himself away but to no avail. Darkness creeped up his body and wrapped around him, keeping him where he was. It was suffocating, he couldn’t drag any air into his lungs as he was plunged into complete and total darkness.

It hurt.

His hands wrapped around his throat as he tried to breathe in, becoming more and more frantic the longer it went on. His lungs burned and screamed for air he couldn’t find. He began to feel faint and grow weaker, his struggles slowing down. He didn’t want to die here, he  _ wasn’t _ going to die here. Not in this place, not when he still had so much to do. He continued to fight against the oppressive darkness, feeling it wrap around him tightly. Whispering little things to him, doubts and fears that made him falter for just a moment. He tried to ignore them, but that grew difficult as he grew weaker. His body weighed down by the unyielding shadows that didn’t want to let him go.

Before he could pass out a soft light appeared above him, small at first but growing brighter and brighter by the second. In a moment of desperation he reached towards it, feeling its warmth wash over him. The darkness that held him gave way to the light he reached for. He made his way to the light, reaching out his arms and wrapping his hands around the small, but brilliant glow and held it close.

_ “Keep your light burning strong, and you’ll be alright.” _

  
  
  


Izuku screamed as he was thrown back into the world of waking, flailing around in a panic as he tried to remember where he was and how he got there. He ended up getting tangled up in a blanket before falling off the couch and hitting the coffee table on his way down.

The pain was enough to snap him out of his panic and bring him back to reality. He stopped struggling and untangled himself before getting to his feet. He was sweating up a storm and his heart beat painfully against his ribs. He looked down at his hands to see flames flickering erratically before fizzling out and turning into bright sparks. He watched his magic dance around for a moment before taking a deep breath and calming himself down. He felt his magic fade and he let himself collapse on the couch. He panted as he looked around, trying to remember what happened. He had a strange dream, most of it escaped him but he could remember bits and pieces.

He looked down at the blanket on the floor, then looked to the side to see a pillow on the couch.

_ That’s right, I was with mom and I fell asleep _ .

His mom.

“Mom?” He called out. “Are you here?” He asked.

He picked up the blanket and began to fold it up, as he did that he noticed a piece of paper fall off of it. He must have knocked that over in his panic. He finished folding and picked up the paper to read it.

  
  


_ Got called into work, I’m sorry Izuku. I left you some food in the fridge for when you wake up. Be good, I love you! _

  * _Mom_



“Work again…” He mumbled, scratching at his face as he grabbed his phone. There were a lot of missed texts from Master. He glanced up at the time and gasped.

“It’s already 1?” He shouted.

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


Izuku groaned as he laid his head on the table. It had been a week since the exam now, and he was constantly thinking about it. 

“Still worried?” Aqua asked as she walked by, sifting through the drawer.

“Yeah…” Izuku mumbled, his voice a bit muffled with his face pressed against the table.

“At least you’re not staring at random objects all the time anymore. I mean you stared at the wall for a while, then you stared at your food, and then you stared at one of the Moogles for a while. I was starting to get worried.” 

“It was only for like, two days.” Izuku sat up to argue.

“Actually four.” Eri spoke up from beside him. “You almost burned the egg a few days ago too.”

Izuku sputtered and looked down. “I mean...listen…”

“I’m listening.” Aqua glanced at him.

Izuku stared at her for a moment, unable to come up with any sort of argument. “...Listen.” He said again.

Aqua laughed and shook her head. “Okay, okay. I understand though, you were stuck in your head for a while. Knowing you, you were going over the worst case scenario weren’t you?” 

Izuku looked down and shrugged. “Yeah...kinda. Still kinda thinking about that too though…” He admitted. “I mean, I told what I think happened. Even with how much I studied, I probably barely passed the written part. Then in the mock battle I lost count of how many points I got, but I know it wasn’t enough. I used up a lot more energy than I had, if anything that probably looks bad to the judges of the exam huh? They want someone who is efficient and capable, someone who can get around quickly and use their abilities for the best. I don’t think they saw that in me, besides I-”

Aqua walked over and tapped his head. “Hey, enough of that.” She lightly scolded him. “You gave everything you had in that exam and then some. You did everything you could and put what you learned into practice. Not to mention that you saved someone Izuku, you saved that girl from that robot that would have crushed her. Instead of running away to save yourself, you ran to rescue someone else.”

Aqua huffed as she shook her head. “That’s what a hero is meant to do right? To save and protect? Honestly if UA doesn’t recognize that, then they don’t deserve you.”

Izuku looked up in surprise, seeing his Master looking a little annoyed. At least he knew it wasn’t towards him.

“Hey, Master?” He asked.

“Hm?”

“If I don’t get into UA, then what? I mean it’s the top hero school, and if I don’t get in what else could I really do? I mean, it feels like I’d be losing my one and only chance you know?” Izuku turned his eyes back to the table where his open notebook lay. A sketch of his would-be hero costume. Something simple that isn’t too flashy and suits his rather plain looking self.

Aqua sighed and sat next to him. “Well, on the slim chance you don’t get into UA, there are always other options. UA may be the top hero school, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only one out there. There are other schools, can’t quite remember the names at the moment, but you could always go for those. They may be a little farther out, but we’d figure something out for your training. Or if you want to stay close by you could go to a normal highschool, and all your training would be with me.”

“We have options, but if you ask me those are options we aren’t going to have to go into. Because you’re going to get into UA.” 

Izuku scratched at his face, her words bringing a little more comfort to him. Even if he failed, she’d still train him. She’d still keep him around.

“You’ve worked so hard with me Master, if I don’t get into UA...would that mean that everything you’ve done for me was a waste of time? I couldn’t even get into the top school, so…”

Aqua tapped on the head again, a little harder this time.

“Izuku, remember what I told you all those months ago? Training you will never be a waste of time, I never want you to think that about yourself. You’ve come so far and learned so much in so little time.” She lightly ruffled his hair and smiled at him. “No matter what I’m proud of you, okay? Always.”

Izuku stared up at her before smiling to himself. Just hearing those words helped ease a great deal of his worries. It didn’t matter to her where he ended up, she wasn’t going anywhere, no matter what she and Eri would always be there. Aqua hummed and stood up again, going back to rummaging through the drawer for what she was looking for. For the moment Izuku went back to doodling in his notebook, Eri watched him and did the same on her own piece of paper. 

“Hey Izuku, how do you know if you got into UA anyway?” Eri asked, looking up from her drawing. A sunset on a beach.

“Huh?” Izuku looked over, taking a minute to process the question. “Oh, uh, well when they’re ready to let people know if they got in or not they send letters. They can either be rejection or acceptance letters, UA has a low acceptance rate and that makes it really hard to get into the hero course, as well as the other courses they have. What I’m hoping for is an acceptance letter.”

“How long does it take until they let you know?” Eri asked.

“I actually don’t know. I’ve been checking the mail everyday hoping I’d find a letter. It’s been a week already so I’m hoping it’ll be in soon.”

“So, you don’t know when you’ll get the letter? That must be awful.”

“Yeah, waiting for the results suck.” Izuku sighed. “But UA is a pretty prestigious school and stuff, so I’m sure they have some kind of effective system for this.”

Aqua nodded to herself and gasped as she found what she was looking for, quickly closing the drawer and running into the next room. “Found it!” She called.

Izuku watched her run out in confusion before looking at Eri. “Did she or one of the Moogles lose something?” He asked.

Eri looked at him and shrugged before going back to drawing. “Are you gonna stay over tonight? Or are you gonna go home?” 

“Uh, I don’t know.” Izuku shook his head. “It depends on whether or not my mom is coming home. If she is then I have to head back, I don’t want to worry her and she isn’t exactly aware of my living situation. Living both here and...well there. Then there’s also the fact she isn’t aware I have powers.”

“And I’ve told you to tell her, over and over again Izuku.” Master Aqua walked back into the room. “It’s not healthy to hide this kind of stuff, and it’s better to tell her sooner rather than later.”

  
“I know…” He muttered. “Believe me I know, but...well she’s not home very often. And even then, I don’t wanna make her worry.”

“I think she’d worry more if you’re hiding something. She’ll find out about it at some point, and I think it might be best to hear it from you.” Aqua began prepping for dinner.

Izuku hummed and looked down at his notebook before sighing. He did want to tell her, he really did. He was just scared at what she’d say. She would be happy, sure, but would she feel hurt at all? He hid this from her for 10 months, almost a  _ year _ .

“Aw man…” Eri whined after a moment. “I broke my pencil. I’m gonna go get another one.” She put the pencil down and ran out of the room. She was almost done with her drawing and she really wanted to get it done before Izuku left. She ran into the living room and hurried over to one of the small boxes where they kept their pens, markers, and pencils.

“Come on, come on, I just need one sharp one.” She rummaged through the box and mumbled to herself. One of the Moogles came up to her and hopped on a stool, looking over the box.

“Whatcha doing?”

“Looking for a pencil.” She huffed. “Or a sharpener, that works too.”

“Oh, I have a pencil. I’m done with it if you wanna use it.” They held up their own pencil and Eri grinned. 

“Perfect! Thank you!” She took it and was about to run back to the kitchen when she heard a loud buzz. She made a noise of confusion and looked to the desk off to the side. It was Izuku’s phone going off. Eri went over and grabbed his phone, thinking it was an alarm at first and stopping when she saw what it was.

It was a phone call, from who she assumed was Izuku’s mother. She looked a lot like him, or rather the other way around. Eri stared at it for a moment before gasping and taking the phone off the charger.

“Izuku! Your mom is calling you!” She ran into the kitchen and held out the phone. 

“What?” Izuku stood up and took the phone. He quickly answered and put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

_ “Izuku!” _ She had shouted, loud enough for the others to hear. She sounded frantic and excited.  _ “Where are you right now?” _

He opened his mouth to answer, then paused before coming up with a good enough lie. “I-I’m at the park. I wanted to go for a walk, why is everything okay?”

_ “They’re here Izuku! I just got home and checked the mail and they’re here! Your test results, from UA!” _

Izuku froze and went quiet, Eri and Aqua stared at him before he stammered out a response. “Y-Yeah? I’ll be right there. I-I’ll run over real quick, see you soon.” He hung up and stared at the phone in disbelief. 

“Th-The results are in…” He mumbled. “They’re f-finally here...wow…” He ran a hand through his hair and was about to start pacing when Aqua gently grabbed his shoulder.

“Hey, calm down. You should start heading home before it gets too dark. They’re here, and you’re finally going to get your answers. No matter what I’m proud of you okay?” She smiled and patted his shoulder.

Izuku took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, right, yeah okay.” 

He quickly gathered his things and put them in his bag. Before he left he gave Eri a hug goodbye. “Sorry I can’t stay over, are you going to be okay?”

Eri nodded with a smile. “I’ll be okay. Good luck, I hope you got in!” 

“Yeah, me too…” He mumbled, stepping outside.

“Let me know when you get home.” Aqua called after him.

“Will do!”

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


Izuku stared at the sealed envelope on the desk. The red wax seal of UA almost taunting him in a way. How long had he been sitting there just staring at it? Certainly felt like hours when it was probably only a few minutes.

_ How long are you just gonna stare at it? It’s not like it's going to magically open itself. Just sitting here and doing nothing isn’t going to give you answers. _

Izuku watched the unmoving letter a little while longer before mustering up his courage and grabbing it. He grunted and pulled at the letter, struggling for a moment before it finally ripped open. 

When he ripped it a small item fell out, clattering against his desk before glowing and turning on. 

“Hello, I am here as a projection!” 

Izuku shouted in surprise as he saw none other than All Might on the screen. 

“All Might? Wait, this is from UA isn’t it?” He looked at the seal again to make sure. “All Might and UA...no way…” He muttered, had they called him in for these recordings? Why? Because he’s an alumni?

“Greetings, Izuku Midoriya. It’s nice to see you again after so long.”

Izuku thought back.

_ Oh yeah, it’s been a while since he saved me...and kinda praised and scolded me at the same time. _

“You, like many other citizens, have seen me around the city fighting villains and rescuing civilians. The truth is I have not come here just to fight crime, but you are looking at the newest UA faculty member!”

“All Might, at UA?!” He gasped, staring at the screen in disbelief. “All Might is going to be teaching at UA, holy crap that’s amazing…” He muttered.

All Might cleared his throat and continued. “Even though you passed the written exam, you only scored 25 combat points in the practical exam, apologies.” Izuku paled at that. He thought he had scored a little more than that. He swallowed hard, now he saw it, this was a rejection letter. They were just trying to let the rejects down easy.

“I knew it…” Izuku muttered to himself, gripping his sleeves tightly. Tears began to burn his eyes as he looked down. “I knew I didn’t pass…” 

_ I’m a failure. _

“Fortunately there were other factors in play! You see young man, the practical exam was not graded on combat alone. How could a hero course reject someone who is committed to saving others no matter the cost? After all that is what makes a hero, and that is what my alma mater is all about. Training those who would risk their lives for the greater good. So we have Rescue Points!”

Izuku gasped.

“A panel of judges watch and award points for heroic actions beyond fighting villains. Izuku Midoriya, 89 Rescue Points!”

The screen changed to show he had placed 1st in the exams with a total of 114 points altogether. His eyes widened in amazement, just below him was Katsuki with 77 Villain Points.

“You have passed the exams.”

“No way, is this some kind of joke?” He asked himself, feeling tears stream down his face. He sniffed and wiped them away as best he could. First place, he actually got  _ first place _ !

“Welcome Izuku Midoriya, you are now part of the hero academia.”

Izuku watched as the screen went dark and the projector turned off. He smiled to himself and wicked up his phone, sending a quick text to Master Aqua. He put his phone down and rubbed at his face, he couldn’t help the grin on his face as he opened the door to his room.

His mother froze in her tracks and looked up at him. 

His smile grew wider as he answered her. “I made it!”

She stared at him before she began crying as well. “Oh, my baby!” She ran over and hugged him tightly. “I knew you would make it, Izuku I am so proud of you!”

Izuku couldn’t help it as he started crying again, hugging his mom back. He did it, he really did it!

He made it into UA!

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


Aqua panted as she got to the rooftop. She leaned against her Keyblade for support as she caught her breath.

_ That was close, way too close. If the Heartless had gone any further more people could have gotten hurt. _

She looked over the minor destruction of the street, thankfully there were little to no injured people. People who shouldn’t even be out at this hour, there was a curfew for a reason.

Aqua sighed as she looked over her armor. There were a few good cracks and dents in it, she knew they were there but they were becoming more prominent now. Especially with how hard the Heartless have been hitting lately. 

They’ve been getting stronger, with each day that passed they grew more powerful than last time. She was still able to take them down with ease, but with the amount she had been facing, it was like having to be in at least five places at once. As soon as she got done with one horde at least two more would appear. She was keeping up as best she could, she had to. People’s lives were at stake and if she didn’t protect them who would?

She leaned back and looked at the night sky, a pit of dread forming in her gut.

The sky looked a little darker than usual, like stars were missing from the sky. They were blinking out, one by one. 

Something was coming, and if she had to be honest it terrified her. Whatever was happening was big, and it was taking out worlds one by one. She could only hope she was strong enough to take on the storm that was coming their way. She had to be, she couldn’t lose. Not when there was so much on the line.

Eri and Izuku...

Aqua grunted as she stood up straight, turning her gaze back to the world before her. For now she had to focus on what was here right now. She was about to take off when someone cleared their throat.

“Hello, Guardian.”

Aqua whirled around and jumped away from the voice, holding up Master Defender. After a moment she saw who it was and sighed.

“Awfully late for you to be out and about All Might, you’re usually a day time hero.” She lowered her weapon. “You wanna try your hand at apprehending me this time?” She looked over him and noticed he wasn’t in his hero costume. Instead a plain white T-shirt and green cargo pants.

“No, that isn’t it. I’ve actually been looking for you for some time, I’m not going to try to turn you in.” He pulled a water bottle out of one of his pockets. “Actually I’d like to have a talk with you, if you’re willing.”

Aqua eyed the man for a moment before hesitantly taking the bottle and looking it over. She noticed he pulled out a second bottle out of another pocket.

“What is it you want to talk about?” She asked. “Especially with me of all people?” She backed away towards the other side of the roof, just in case.

“Quite a bit actually.” He walked over and stood at the edge, sighing before taking a sip of water. “I have a few concerns I wish to address with you.”

“What kind of concerns?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Guardian, understand that I ask this out of concern, and that it feels too coincidental to be above suspicion. Are you in any way connected to the dark creatures and their source?”

Aqua gripped the bottle tightly and stared at All Might for a moment. She understood where he came from, really she did. The Heartless had to have been plaguing them for a while, then out of nowhere someone can take them down and keep them gone. Anyone who didn’t know what she really was might assume she was much closer to the source.

“I see...no. No, I am not connected with them in any way. I can defeat them yes, but I have no control over where they appear and why. They appear at random, and honestly that can make it pretty frustrating when I’m trying to hunt them down.” She answered, straight and to the point.

All Might nodded. “Thank you, I apologize if I offended you in any way.” 

“It’s fine. You’re right it can come off as coincidental. But I promise I have no connection to them.”

“Guardian, I feel you should be aware of recent developments. Especially since they regard you...and your student.” 

Aqua froze, summoning her weapon again. “Excuse me?”

“I became aware of your student a few months ago, Izuku Midoriya. He applied for UA, I was there for the exam and I saw what he had done. His skills are impressive, especially for 10 months of training. He’s done well, and he’s passed the exam. As his mentor I’m sure you’re proud.”

“How do you know he passed?” She asked.

All Might coughed before turning to her. “Well, you are looking at the newest UA faculty member! I gave out the results in the letters that were sent. I saw Young Midoriya's name come up, he has made it to the hero course.”

A harsh chill ran through Aqua’s body. All Might, the number one hero, knows about Izuku. Her student. He knows Izuku passed and is going to UA, where he’s going to be teaching. If All Might knew what could stop him from telling other teachers who Izuku was, other teachers who were  _ heroes _ . He was in league with a wanted vigilante, if they found out what would they do to him?

“Guardian, if I may-”

“All Might.” She cut him off. 

The man noted the sudden drop in temperature and the ice that began to creep over the roof. 

“You’ve known about him since the beginning, I take it you spied on us and saw me take him in is that it?” 

“...Yes.” 

“All Might, I want you to listen and listen well.” She snapped. “Izuku is  _ my _ student, he is my pupil. As his master I am supposed to teach and protect him. I will not stop him from chasing after his dreams, that is not my place. I am proud of him for making it into UA, and I’m sure seeing you teach there is a welcome surprise to him. You of all people know who he is, and I’m fairly certain it's easy to guess what he means to me.” She began to walk forward, the ice growing thicker.

“I ask that you keep what you know to yourself All Might. Should any of the faculty members find out who he is I have no doubt in my mind harm will come to him. He’s had enough harm brought to him already. And should you hurt that boy in any way, I don’t care if you are this world’s Symbol of Peace I will not hesitate to bring that pain tenfold upon you. Do I make myself clear, All Might?”

She stood right in front of him, Master Defender pointed at his throat. A thin layer of ice began to coat his body, making him shudder. Guardian was usually a calm individual, but seeing her like this; angry and demanding, especially over the well being of her student. It almost reminded him of…

“I have no intention of outing Young Midoriya as your student Guardian. That would mean losing you and him, the only two who can act as a deterrent for these creatures. Not only that, but I don’t wish to cause anyone harm. Your secret is safe with me Guardian, you have my word.” 

“You swear?”

“I swear.” 

Aqua glared at him for a bit, the temperature dropping more and more until she sighed. The cold dispersed and the air returned to normal, it felt like he could breathe again. Guardian put down her weapon and turned away.

“I think we’re done here All Might. It was nice talking to you. Goodbye.” She began to walk away, getting ready to jump to another roof. 

All Might watched her walk away, letting himself catch his breath. He wasn’t in danger anymore, her focus was no longer on him and he could  _ breathe _ . He wasn’t done yet though, he still had more questions. Things he wanted to know, things he  _ had _ to know. There were things he wasn’t sure how to do, and maybe she could help, because he had no idea where to even begin.

“Guardian.” He called out, taking a few steps forward. Even in his muscle form he felt fragile, unsure of everything that could happen.

“What?” She asked, not turning around or slowing her gait.

“How did you choose?”

“How did I choose what?”

“How did you choose your successor?” 

Aqua stopped at the edge. Successor? She turned around to look at him. “My...My successor?” She asked.

All Might nodded. “Young Midoriya, how did you choose him? For such a heavy decision, how were you able to make that choice?” 

Aqua stayed where she was, thinking over what he said. Successor. Izuku wasn’t her successor, no he was far from that. She wasn’t expecting him to take her place.

“Saying he’s my successor implies that he’s going to take my place, and that I’ll be stepping down. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. He’s my student, I’m his teacher. I’m going to teach him everything I can, and once I’ve taught him everything I know he’ll go on his own. He’ll grow stronger on his own, and I’ll still be here, I’ll still be here when he needs me. I’m not going anywhere. Why are you asking me this?” 

Aqua turned around to look at All Might. He stood there for a long time without saying anything. It didn’t take her long to piece it all together.

“You’re looking for a…”

All Might nodded. “I’ve been on a long hunt, looking for someone who’s worthy to take my place. As a symbol yourself, I thought you may know how to choose a candidate. How did you choose Young Midoriya?”

Aqua looked down, she chose to teach him. It was her duty as a Keyblade Master to teach the next generation. Not to mention he was chosen as well, he never had a say yet he took it in stride. “Izuku has something that...that makes him special, in more ways than one. He has this light in him, and I swear with each passing day it just gets brighter and brighter. I wasn’t sure about taking on a student at first, mostly because I wasn’t confident in my own abilities as a teacher. I took a leap of faith and took him in, and I don’t regret it. I only fear that I’m not enough sometimes, but I think that’s a fear every mentor has.”

Aqua sighed and shook her head. “I don’t have any advice to help you, I’m sorry. All I can suggest is that...you take in someone that you wholeheartedly believe will carry on what you want. Just understand that this person isn’t going to be you, and they’re going to need you along the way. You’re their teacher, you’re not only supposed to pass down what you know but it is also your job to care for them. To be their rock, to keep them safe, to be there when they need you. And you need to be ready for that responsibility. That’s all I can really tell you.”

All Might stared at her before coughing into his hand. He stared at the crimson stain in his hand before looking up at her.

“Thank you, I’ll...I’ll keep that in mind.”

Aqua nodded. “I should be going, good luck All Might. And remember, I’m trusting you, okay?”

Before he could respond she was already gone. 

All Might felt for his phone in his pocket, pulling it out and gripping it tightly as he deflated.

A leap of faith, she had called it. Guardian, who is a pillar of her own without really knowing it, was so unsure of herself. So hesitant to take on a student of her own. Yet she had done so anyway, and she was doing her best. 

A leap of faith.

Could he do that? Could he put all his trust not only into this one person but also himself as a mentor? Was he really up to the task?

Toshinori unlocked his phone and looked at the contact he had been looking at last. An old friend, or perhaps acquaintance was a better choice of words. He had to pass on this power, he wanted to. He didn’t want One For All to die with him, it couldn’t. 

Would his Master approve? Would she think he’s a good choice? What would she have said?

He stared at the call button, his finger hovering over it. Would he be able to live up to the title as mentor? He had to, he had no other choice.

Toshinori swallowed hard and pressed the call button, putting the phone to his ear. One ring, two, three. It felt like it went on forever. What would he even say to Nighteye when he answered?

As he thought out some kind of script the line picked up, and he choked on his breath. Before he could even greet him, Nighteye spoke first in a frantic voice, gasping for air. 

“All Might, old friend, I’m glad you’ve finally called. I’m afraid we don’t have much time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discord: https://discord.gg/UWtM2he


	6. First Days

**First Days**

  
  


Izuku hummed to himself as he packed up his bag, practically vibrating in excitement. It was his first day of school, finally. After waiting for three weeks, spending most of the time getting ready for school and training. 

He had noticed that his magic had grown a lot more powerful ever since the weird dream he had. The details still escaped him, he couldn’t remember exactly what happened, all he could hang onto was the feeling. The fear, confusion, and the momentary feeling of safety. It made him shudder every time he thought about it, and he’d always push it to the back of his head. 

Izuku got to his feet and slung his backpack over his shoulder, making his way through the house. His mother caught sight of him as he walked past the living room.

“Oh! Izuku, are you heading out already? It’s pretty early.” She slowly got to her feet, still half asleep.

“Yeah I know, but I figure that the earlier I get there the sooner I can find my classroom and take a look around campus. It’s pretty big and I have a feeling I’ll get lost.” He laughed and scratched at his face. 

Inko looked at the clock before sighing and shaking her head. “Okay then, just be careful okay? I’ll be going to work today too, so be careful on your way home okay? Let me know when you get back.”

“I will!” He promised, stopping at the door and looking over his bag one more time, just to be safe. Inko followed him and stopped behind him.

“Do you have everything? Pencils, notebooks, keys to the house?” She listed off. “You didn’t just pack action figures did you?”

“No mom, don’t worry I’ve got everything.” He grinned, putting his backpack on. “I’m heading off!.” He was about to open the door and walk out when Inko spoke up again.

“Izuku.” She said, making him stop.

“Yeah?” He watched her, seeing his look down before slowly looking up at him. He had forgotten he was a little taller than her, he hardly ever got to see her anymore. He straightened up as she stepped forward and tried to tame his messy hair. His curls bounced back up again whenever she tried to smooth them over, as per usual. She smiled to herself and kissed his forehead. 

“I’m really proud of you Izuku.”

Izuku paused before smiling back at her. “I’ll see you soon.” 

Inko smiled and waved goodbye as he stepped out of the house, making sure to lock the door behind him. He walked at first, looking around to make sure he wasn’t being followed. Once he was sure he took off running towards his Master’s home. 

He took in the quiet of the morning as he ran, people slowly emerging from their homes for work and school. The dim light of the sun banishing the shadows of the night, making people feel safe again. Some people gave him a few passing glances, recognizing the UA uniform. 

He ran even faster, excitement fueling him as he hopped over benches and dodged past people. Soon enough he got into the more quieter parts of town, close by his Master’s home. He looked around again before turning into an alley, taking a less obvious way towards her home, a small habit he had gotten into a short while ago.

Izuku grinned as he approached the entrance, quietly moving the makeshift door to the side before placing it back.

“Morning everyone! I’m here!” He shouted, placing his bag by the door.

Aqua poked her head out the kitchen door, her hair a mess. Like she had just gotten up, though it was more accurate to say she had just gotten home.

“Oh, well well well, look at you.” She smiled and made her way over to him. She looked over his uniform and laughed a little. “Your tie is all bunched up.”

“I don’t know how to tie a tie!” He admitted, turning red. “I tried looking up some videos and I still couldn't get it right. I thought about asking my mom, but I didn’t wanna bother her with it. So, this is what I ended up with.”

“Okay, okay, hold still and let me see.” She was quick to undo the tie and hummed to herself as she tried to do it the right way. She had seen one or two videos in passing, even so she was a little lost after the first few steps.

Izuku watched her as she tried again and again, backtracking a few times.

“Okay let’s see, around...under, no over,  _ then _ under.” She muttered to herself, straightening it out. She stared at it for a moment before shaking her head. “Yeah, I think I messed up somewhere along the way.” It was even more bunched up if possible, looking like a tangled mess.

“Yeah I think so too...but that’s okay, I guess it’s something I gotta look into later.” He undid the tie and redid it, once again making it shorter than it should be. He huffed in frustration before shaking his head. 

Aqua laughed again and shook her head. “Come on, eat something real quick before you have to leave.” She motioned him to follow her as she walked into the kitchen. Already having set a plate for him. 

“I decided to try out this new recipe I found for crepes, so let me know how it is.” She said, motioning at a few slices of fruit. “I still think I added too much water though…”

“It’s fine Kupo.” A Moogle said as they passed by, finishing the rest of their food. 

“This is coming from someone who just ate a bowl of cereal.” Aqua raised an eyebrow. 

The Moogle stared at her and shrugged, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room. Pausing when they saw Izuku’s backpack, and taking a sudden interest in it.

Izuku quickly assembled his breakfast and dug in, thankful to eat something before he headed to school. Just as he was finishing up the food and about to thank Aqua, Eri walked in with a yawn.

“Morning…” She mumbled, making her way over to the table and sitting beside Izuku.

“Oh look who’s awake!” Aqua smiled and set down a plate in front of her. “How’d you sleep?”

“Still tired…” She answered, staring at the plate for a moment before looking up at Izuku. “Izuku? What are you doing here so early? Are you here for training?”

Izuku laughed and shook his head. “No, I’m not here for training. It’s my first day of school, remember? I wanted to come and see everyone before I headed off.”

She stared at him before nodding. “Oh yeah,  _ that’s _ why I woke up.” She smiled. “You look fancy.”

“Yeah, well this is the uniform. I guess it looks a lot fancier than my last school uniform. I actually have to wear a tie this time.” He tugged at the wretched piece of cloth again.

Eri only hummed and nodded, only half paying attention. “Are you gonna come back?” She asked.

“Of course I am. I’ll be back before you know it. Oh! Speaking of uniforms, Master I brought some of them for when I stay over and have school the next day. I’m going to go put them up in my room real quick.”

Aqua looked at the time. “Okay, but then you should take off. It’s getting pretty late and I don’t want you late for your first day.” 

“Right!” He got up and ran over to his backpack before running up the stairs. 

“Don’t run up the stairs!” Aqua called after him.

“Sorry!”

She watched him run up and smiled to herself. She was proud of him, she really was. She remembered when he came flying in the day after getting his results. He was in tears as he told her he made first place with 114 points in total. Most of them being something called Rescue Points. 

She was ecstatic, congratulating him and saying how proud she was. He cried out of joy and relief, surprised that he had gotten such a high ranking at all. It only made the gifts she made for him that much sweeter.

She snapped back to the present as Izuku made his way down the stairs, skipping steps as he went. He hopped over the last ones and landed on the ground floor with the thud. He checked his phone and yelped in surprise. “Oh geez, I didn’t think it was  _ that _ late!” He shouted. 

He quickly ran over to his backpack, gathering his things while Aqua walked over.

“You got everything? Backpack, phone, charger?” 

“Yup!” He nodded, grunting as he put his backpack on. It looked like it had a little weight to it.

“...Your good luck charm?”

Izuku paused and looked at her before grinning and reaching into his shirt and pulling out the charm around his neck. A bright green star with a few red streaks towards the middle of it, in the middle was the same crest she wore proudly. Just one of the gifts she had given him.

“Of course!” He answered. “Wouldn’t go anywhere without it!” 

Aqua smiled before ruffling his hair, getting a small laugh out of him. “Have a good day Izuku.”

He nodded and turned to leave. “Will do!”

Just before he stepped out the door Aqua stopped him. “Hey Izuku?”

“Yeah?”

“...I’m really proud of you, you know that?”

He stared at her before turning a little red and nodding. “Thank you!” He said before turning around and leaving. His heart soaring with joy and excitement. It was his first day at UA, as far as he was concerned, nothing could go wrong!

As he ran off he didn’t see his Master peek out the entrance, staring at the sky in worry. It seemed a little darker than usual.

**-.-**

  
  


“I’m late, I’m late, I’m late…” Izuku muttered to himself as he ran through the halls. “Class 1-A...come on where is it?” He turned a corner and looked around frantically. He looked around and gasped as he caught sight of the room labeled 1-A.

He couldn’t stop a grin from reaching his face as he raced forward, a bit of nervousness creeping in just as he stopped at the door.

“This thing is huge...are there giants here?” He asked himself, shifting his bag a bit. It still bothered him that it felt a little heavier than it did when he got to his Master’s house. Did he pack that much stuff?

_ Okay, focus! The most promising students of the country are going to be behind this door… _

Izuku stared at the door handle, the dreaded thought of both Katsuki and that strict boy from the exams being in the same class made him hesitate. They didn’t like him then, there was no way they were going to like him now.

_ Maybe they got in different classes. Maybe we won’t meet each other… _

Izuku took a deep breath and slowly opened the door, being met with chaos. People were chatting, sitting at desks that weren’t their own and overall getting to know each other. Seemed normal enough.

“You take your feet off that desk immediately! You are defacing UA school property, very desks that pro heroes used before!” 

He recognized that voice immediately. It was the strict boy from the exam, scolding none other than Katsuki Bakugo.

_ Just my luck… _

“What’s your problem? Did your last school put a stick up your ass?”

“Mind your language, we are in a school setting!” He made chopping motions with his hands before stopping to clear his throat. “Perhaps we should start over. My name is Iida Tenya, I previously attended Somei Private Academy.”

“Somei huh? You must think you’re better than me. Ha! Can’t wait to tear you a new one!”

“You threaten me? Your own classmate? Are you sure you’re in the right place?”

“Uh oh…” Izuku muttered, catching their attention. The boy who named himself as Tenya looked up to see him.

“It’s him.” He muttered. “The one who got first place.” 

Izuku bit his lip as everyone in the class turned to look at him. He felt himself blush as they looked him over, probably trying to gauge what kind of person he was.

“U-Uh...hi. Nice to you all.” He greeted, keeping his eyes averted. 

“Good morning.” Izuku tensed up as Tenya marched forward. “My name is Tenya Iida from-”

“Y-Yeah I know. I heard you introduce yourself.” Izuku said, looking up at him. “I’m Izuku Midoriya, it’s super nice to meet you.” He held out a hand, which Tenya took and shook stiffly.

“Midoriya, you realized there were more to the exams. I must say I admire your perceptiveness. I apologize for misjudging you, I must admit you are the superior student.”

Izuku scratched at his face. That was rather hard to believe, just off the bat Tenya seemed like a much more studious person than he was. He was about to respond when a new voice came up from behind him.

“Oh hey, I recognize that messy hair! You’re Lightning boy!”

_ Lightning Boy?! _

“That move was amazing! I can’t believe you took that giant robot down in one hit! Also, thanks for coming back to save me, it really means a lot. And I’m glad to see you’re okay too, you passed out after taking that giant robot down I was really worried.” She babbled, unconsciously getting closer.

“O-Oh it’s no problem! I just did what anyone else would do ya know? And yeah, I’m okay, I just used up a lot more energy than I had at the moment.” He answered back, feeling his face become warm again.

“Still though, what you did was pretty cool! Oh! I never introduced myself, that’s so rude! I’m sorry, my name is Ochako Uruaraka! What yours?”

“I-I’m-”

“If you’re here just to make friends, then I recommend you pack your things and leave.” A low, tired voice spoke up. They froze and slowly looked down to the floor, only to see a man in a yellow sleeping bag. 

_ Is that a demented caterpillar?! _

Izuku gulped and watched as the man sighed and got to his feet. “Hello everyone and welcome to UA, my name is Shouta Aizawa. I’m your homeroom teacher.” 

“He looks so worn out.” Izuku muttered to himself, looking over the man again and again. He seemed familiar, though he couldn’t place why. He knew he had seen him before, he had to. He just couldn’t remember where.

“Alright, enough chit chat. It’s time to head out to the field. You’ve got uniforms waiting in your lockers, come on let's go.”

Everyone looked at each other in confusion before watching the man walk out of the classroom. “Well? What are you waiting for? Get going.” He narrowed his eyes and began walking off, making everyone scramble to their feet to follow after. 

Izuku stepped to the side to avoid the stampede of students rushing out. After everyone was out Izuku sighed to himself and was about to rush after them when a rustling from his backpack made him stop. He stepped back and took his bag off his shoulders.

“What the…” He yelled as the bag came flying open and a Moogle popped out.

“Hello Kupo! It is I, the great Mogma!” He cheered.

Izuku stared at the little creature before feeling panic rise. “Why are you here? What are you doing here, I’m supposed to be in school! When...How-” He stopped and looked down at Mogma who had already hopped onto the floor. “You snuck in my bag while I was putting my uniforms away!”

“Indeed!” He pointed at him. “Anyway, you hear a lot of buzz on the streets about UA, whether it be about students or faculty. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about myself.”

“By sneaking into my backpack? Mogma you’re trespassing!” Izuku frowned.

“I know! That makes it even more exciting!”

“N-No! I can get in trouble, Mogma  _ you _ could get in trouble! You’re not supposed to be here, and seeing as you technically snuck in you can be  _ tried _ !”

“Only if I get caught!” 

  
Which you probably will...does Master even know you’re here?” Izuku asked.

“...I am going to choose not to answer that.” 

“Mogma!” 

The Moogle stared up at him before giving a nervous giggle and running off. “Okay I’ll see you later Kupo!”

“No wait!” Izuku closed up his bag again before trying to chase after the Moogle. Much to his dismay, Mogma was already gone. Running rampant in the halls of UA.

“Mogma…” He looked around frantically.

“Midoriya!” Aizawa shouted at him from afar, standing at the end of the hall. “Get moving, I’m not going to wait so you can catch up.” 

Izuku took another look around before shaking his head. “R-Right, I’m sorry sir!” 

_ I’m going to have to find him later, please stay out of trouble… _

Izuku raced forward, wondering what they were supposed to be doing. Orientation was still a thing, and he was pretty sure that they weren’t heading in the right direction. He shook his head and sped up to catch up, he supposed he’d figure it out when he got there.

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


Mogma hummed as he walked around, peeking in every door he could. There he was, at UA, what was supposed to be the best school in Japan. Packed with heroes and students full of potential.

At least that was what he heard.

“Let’s see…” He pushed open a door and peeked inside. “Another empty classroom. Aw man, there’s nobody here...but there is stuff to look at!” He cackled to himself and slipped inside. The student desks were obviously empty, it was the first day after all. What he was really interested in was the teacher’s desks.

He hopped on a rolling chair and began peeking in the desks, shuffling things around.

“Paper...paper...chalk. Oh, Oh! Look at you....” He hummed as he picked up a small gemstone, it seemed like a shiny bauble to a normal person but to a Moogle it was something much more. “I’ll be taking this.” He put it in his bag and left a potion in return. He peeked through a few more drawers, finding nothing else of interest. Once he was through with his search he left the classroom, a tad upset it didn’t yield anything too interesting.

He went through a few more rooms, in each one not finding anything that caught his interest. Each time he couldn’t help but wonder just where everyone was, it was a school after all. Where were the teachers and students? Maybe if he could find some people he could sell a few of the wares he had on hand. 

Mogma closed yet another door to an empty classroom and sighed, continuing to walk forward. Where was everyone? It was a school for goodness sake, the first day no less!

Mogma stopped.

That’s right, it was the first day. People had to meet their teachers and learn all the rules and expectations. What better place to do that other than an orientation? If he had to guess it was on one of the lower floors, which was more beneficial to him there was still so much to explore!

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


_ I am so screwed… _

Izuku stared at his homeroom teacher in silent horror as he finally realized who he was after the man scolded another student. As soon as he saw the yellow goggles hiding beneath the scarf the pieces had finally clicked together.

Shouta Aizawa was the pro hero Eraserhead, the Erasure Hero. The same hero who had chased after Master Aqua quite a few times. The hero whose Quirk didn’t work on her, because she didn’t have a Quirk, she had magic.

Izuku had magic, and magic couldn’t be cancelled out. Only then it had dawned on Izuku the kind of situation he had put himself in. 

Everybody in the school was either a hero or a hero in training. Then there was Izuku, who was a hero in training just like the others. But unlike the others he was directly connected to a vigilante, and if anybody found out not only would Izuku be in trouble, but so would his Master.

If the man tried to cancel out his ‘Quirk’ and it didn’t work would he think he was in direct relation with Guardian? How much suspicion would it cause? Could he find a way to explain it away?

“Mr. Aizawa is pretty scary huh?” Ochako asked, and Izuku nodded. “He seems kinda mean too, threatening to send one of us home if we’re in last place.”

Iida nodded beside them. “UA is one of the top schools for a reason, I suppose this is just to gauge how much potential we have.”

“Yeah, but sending last place home still seems harsh.” Izuku frowned. 

“I never said I approved of this method.” Iida reminded him.

Izuku bit his lip as they walked over to the area of the first test, a 50 meter dash. 

_ I have to focus, I need to get through these tests. I just have to be careful, if he ever tries to cancel my powers then I have to cancel it on my own. _

Izuku stood in a line, fumbling with his hands as pairs went off. He was fast and considered himself to have pretty good endurance, though that would only get him so far with these tests, especially considering they’re physical. That meant having to get a little creative with his magic, that also meant having to ration off his energy in proper amounts.

Izuku eyed one of his classmates, someone who used ice to skate across the distance. Could he pull that off? Make a trail of ice and skate on it? He had seen his Master pull it off a few times, but then again she was much more advanced. This was a test he didn’t have time for risky experiments. 

“Midoriya, Bakugo, you’re up!”

Izuku swallowed hard and moved forward, taking his place.

_ I’m just going to have to push myself forward… _

A blank went off and the two were off, dashing forward to the finish line. Izuku had been keeping good pace with Katsuki before the explosive boy threw his hands behind him.

“Burst Speed!” He shouted, racing ahead.

Izuku took a deep breath and surrounded himself with wind, feeling it push him faster and faster. He pushed himself and passed Katsuki.

“4.07 seconds!” The robot chirped.

“4.13 seconds!” 

Izuku panted and flexed his hands, it seemed that Aero was going to be his friend in these tests. Which was fine, he felt the need to practice control over that spell anyway. What better place to do it than here?

“Deku…” Izuku froze and looked up to see Katsuki glaring at him, his palms smoking. The blonde opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get anything out Izuku ran back to the group of students who finished the test. 

“Of course he’s mad at me…” Izuku mumbled, taking his place beside Iida and Ochako. 

“You know Bakugo?” Iida looked down at him.

“Y-Yeah...he and I don’t get along very well. It’s uh...it’s kind of complicated.” Izuku scratched at his face. 

“Ah, I see.” Iida nodded. “That seems rather unfortunate.”

Izuku shrugged and kept his head down, refusing to meet Katsuki’s eyes. He didn’t want to fight him, or try to. Not today, not when there was a lot more to worry about. 

“Alright, next up is the Standing Long Jump. Come on.” Aizawa waved them over and they followed. 

Izuku sighed and followed, hoping to get through the rest as quickly as possibly.

_ Mogma I hope you’re okay… _

  
  


**-.-**

It turned out that the school was much bigger than Mogma had thought, a  _ lot _ bigger. Finding the orientation area was a lot harder than he thought it was going to be, which was fine. Maybe he could find something even more interesting than an orientation, there was always something else to look at. He could sell some stuff when he found the crowd.

Mogma hummed to himself as he roamed the halls. 

“There has to be something interesting around here.” Mogma muttered to himself. “I can only get turned around so many times and not find something to look at. Or some kind of stray items, people always pick up synthesis items they never need.” 

It was common for some Moogles to trade with humans, instead of them paying with their usual currency they’d be willing to take the neat synthesis item they had picked up from somewhere. Where they managed to get them, none of the Moogles had any clue. At least it was understandable as to why Aqua did, she slayed Heartless all the time and they would drop all kinds of stuff.

Though where they found most of their supplies was the trashed Dagobah Beach. Every other weekend or so Moogles would go over and see what they could find, usually accompanied by Aqua or some of the older Moogles. Even though they would mind their own business, some humans would insist on harassing or attacking some Moogles if they were alone. 

“Hopefully none of those kinds of people are here...I mean this is a hero school after all.” He mumbled.

Mogma turned a corner and looked around the hall to see if there was anything of interest. Much to his surprise there was an open door with a light on. 

The Moogle tilted his head in confusion and began approaching the door, technically nobody should be on the floors. Everyone should be at orientation, right?

Mogma crept forward and looked into the room, hearing voices as he got closer. Inside the room were two couches facing each other. On one side was an older man, thin and withered with blue sunken eyes. Across from him sat a young man, sitting up straight, blonde with blue eyes as well. Though he had a more muscled form compared to the man who sat across from him.

“I apologize for pulling you away from your friends Young Togata, especially on your first day back to school.”

“Aw it’s no problem sir, really. Besides I actually wanted to talk to you too, I had some questions about your power.”

Mogma raised an eyebrow and crept closer, hiding behind a plant near the door to hear better.

“Of course, how is One For All treating you? I’m sure you’re still adjusting to the new boost in power, which is natural so don’t worry.” The old man reassured him.

“One For All?” Mogma asked himself.

“It’s fine, I won’t lie. The sudden change in power was surprising, but thanks to you and Sir, I’ve been getting the hang of it.” He smiled brightly and flexed his arm as if to emphasize his point.

“That’s good to hear young man.” He muttered.

Mogma watched the expression on Togata’s face shift a bit before quickly shifting back to his laid back smile.

“While I appreciate you checking on my progress with One For All, I feel like you called me in for another reason All Might.” The boy’s tone had turned a bit more serious.

_ All Might?! _

Mogma covered his mouth to keep from making any noise. All Might? That skeleton of a man was All Might? How was that possible? All Might was a beast of a man, nothing but muscle and...muscle. The man sitting on the couch looked like he could barely carry himself across a room!

Mogma watched, shaking with anticipation as the man who was called All Might stiffened and sighed loudly. “Has Nighteye told you anything about what he’s seen with his Foresight?” He asked.

Togata gave him a look of confusion before shaking his head. “No, he hasn’t. Actually he hasn’t been using his Foresight at all lately. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried, everytime I ask about it he seems...shaken.” 

All Might nodded. “I can understand why, and he hasn’t spoken to you about it?”

“No sir.”

The two sat in silence for a moment, both looking at each other. A sense of tension rising in the room, making the hidden Moogle shudder. 

“All Might, do you know what Sir saw? Has he told  _ you _ anything?”

All Might nodded. “I’m actually surprised he hasn’t told you anything, but I feel that you of all people have a right to know.”

“What do you mean?”

“...A few weeks ago I called Nighteye to ask him about, well you, my successor. He was frantic when he answered, saying he was relieved that I finally called. He told me he had used his Foresight on someone, and while the Quirk was active it came to his attention that something was wrong, he described it as everything going dark. He used his Quirk again and again when he could, finding that at some point whoever he had used his Quirk on faced the same fate.”

Togata watched the man carefully, trying to piece together what he was getting at. “What do you mean? Like a mass...a mass…”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Does he know what caused it? I know Sir’s visions are always accurate, but there has to be some way to stop this? I mean, it can’t just be the end of the world right? There has to be something we can do, when did he say this takes place?” He leaned forward and put his hands on the table.

“Young Togata…”

“Does he know what caused it at least?” 

“The Heartless…” Mogma murmured.

“We have a theory that the dark creatures are what will cause this, as to the exact day he said he’s not sure, but he’s told me that it’ll happen soon. Some disappeared one day, while others faded away what he supposed was days later. Though he has told me that he has seen one survivor who’s future hasn’t faded.”

Togata sat up straighter, struggling to keep from rising.

“Who is it? Maybe if we find them, they can help us find a way to prevent this!”

“It’s you Young Togata.” 

“What?”

_ The world is going to fall to darkness… _

Mogma began to creep out the door, a little more than shaken up by what he had just heard.

_ Oh this is bad, this is bad. This is really, really bad. The world is going to fall to darkness, does that mean she failed? Was she killed by Heartless? _

Mogma quietly panicked as he started heading out of the room. He had to find Izuku and then get back home, and tell Aqua everything. Maybe sneaking out wasn’t such a bad idea, not when he could find out stuff like this.

Just as he reached the door Mogma had stumbled and knocked something over, causing a loud thud. The two looked up at the source of the noise, only to see the small Moogle frozen in fear and staring right back at them.

“Uh...hello?” He waved his hands.

Togata got to his feet and started to walk over, opening his mouth to speak when Mogma took off running through the halls.

“Kupo! Kupo help!” He shouted as he ran away.

“Wait, hold on!” 

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


Izuku panted as he crossed the finish line of the long distance run, it wasn’t too hard. Basic training as far as he was concerned, he just had to keep a good pace and not tire himself out. Easy enough.

“We got through the Apprehension test.” Ochako sighed in relief. “It felt like it’d never end!”

Izuku nodded in agreement, doing a few stretches before following the crowd of students. 

“I just hope that we made it, you know? I don’t think Mr. Aizawa was kidding when he said he was going to expel someone.” She mumbled.

“That would be rather cruel.” Iida agreed.

“I’m hoping I’m not in last place.” Izuku admitted, wringing his hands. “My Quirk wasn’t exactly suited to all the tests.” 

“Oh I’m sure you did great!” Ochako smiled. “I mean you did great on a lot of them, especially that ball toss that was amazing!”

“I must agree, I believe you have nothing to worry about Midoriya. With what you’ve shown I highly doubt you’d be in last place.” 

“Right...I guess it’s just nerves.” Izuku muttered.

“I don’t blame you.” Ochako smiled.

“Alright, pay attention, the results are up.” Aizawa called, making the class settle down. “You’ve been ranked from best to worst, but you all should have a good idea where you stand.” He pressed a button on his remote and a screen appeared.

Izuku looked down the screen, starting from the top and finding his name early on, 3rd place. Just below Shouto Todoroki and right above Katsuki.

“Oh woah you made it to 3rd place!” Ochako said. She herself made it to 9th. “See, we told you you wouldn’t be in last place!” 

“Well done Midoriya.” Iida congratulated him.

While a majority of the class breathed a sigh of relief, Aizawa wasted no time in addressing their concerns. “Oh, by the way, I was kidding about expelling last place.” He grinned. “That was just a logical ruse to make sure you gave it your all in the tests.”

Everyone was silent before erupting into protests and complaints. 

“Why on earth would you do that?”

“You made all of us scared for nothing! That’s so mean!”

“I’m so lucky…”

One of the girls looked over to the others. “I’m sorry, I thought you all knew. I probably should have said something.”

“You think?” A group shouted.

“Oh man that was nerve wracking!” One of the boys muttered, taking a seat on the ground.

“You kidding? It’s always fun to have a challenge like this.” Another argued.

“Alright, and with that we’re done for the day.” Aizawa sighed, pressing a button and making the screen disappear. “Go pick up a syllabus and read it over. Go enjoy the rest of your first day.” He muttered as he walked away. 

Izuku sighed in relief and rubbed his eyes.

_ Great, now that this is over maybe I can go and find Mogma. _

He was about to start walking away when a loud shout cut through the chatter. Izuku looked up to see Katsuki was  _ furious _ . Dark smoke rising from his twitching palms. 

_ Uh oh… _

“Deku you little bastard! Get over here so I can kick your ass!” He sprinted towards Izuku, raising his hands with small sparks coming off of them. 

Izuku shouted and put his hands up, fear holding him in place. Before Katsuki could get too close Ochako placed herself between them, and was about to slap Katsuki when Aizawa’s scarf shot out and wrapped around the blonde.

“What...the hell?”

The class looked between the students and the teacher, shuddering when they saw him. They had considered their teacher frightening enough, but with his Quirk activated it always made them quick to silence themselves.

“Bakugo, it’s still the first day of class. I can still expel someone, especially if they don’t behave themselves.” Aizawa growled, tugging on his scarf to drag the boy away from Izuku until Katsuki was right in front of him. “You are a heroics student, you are not to touch any of your classmates in a way that would seriously harm them. Do I make myself clear?”

Katsuki glared at him, about to yell in his face before stopping himself. He had to confront Izuku, not now but later, when he could get him alone. And put him in his place.

“Tch, yes. We’re clear.” Katsuki answered, muttering angrily to himself as he was let go.

“Now head back and change. And be ready for tomorrow, that’s when your real training begins.” He dismissed everyone as a crack of thunder surprised them. 

“Oh...that’s weird. The forecast said it was gonna be sunny all day…” Izuku muttered as he looked to the sky. He couldn’t help but notice that the sky seemed almost barren in a way, empty. 

He was about to walk off with the others when he was called over. “Midoriya, hold on a moment, I’d like to have a word with you.”

_ Oh crap! He knows! _

“We’ll wait for you Midoriya.” Iida said, stopping and turning around to see his friends had gone very pale.

“You okay? You’re not looking too good.” Ochako commented.

“I-It’s fine!” Izuku stammered out. “You guys don’t have to wait for me, go on ahead. I’ll find you guys later, promise.”

“You sure?” 

Izuku nodded quickly, watching them walk away before turning around stiffly to see Aizawa looming over him. Izuku gulped as he met his gaze, afraid of what might come next. 

Did he know? Did he suspect it?

Had he used his Quirk while Izuku wasn’t looking? Was there anyway he could talk himself out of this?

“Uh...w-was there something you wanted to talk about Mr. Aizawa?” He asked quietly.

“Just a few concerns I wanted to address.” He answered nonchalantly, as if the student in front of him wasn’t scared to death.

“Like what, sir?”

The man eyed him before letting out a sigh. “Midoriya, it’s come to my attention that your Quirk registry was updated a few days after your exam. For a majority of your life your file has said you were Quirkless. That’s a pretty dramatic change, at an awfully convenient time.”

Izuku stared at the man, the gears turning in his head. “You...You just wanna know about my Quirk?” He asked.

Aizawa nodded. “Your file doesn’t give any details other than recorded changes and descriptions. Call it curiosity, and concern as your instructor.”

_ He doesn’t know, I’m still in the clear. I’m still safe, we’re still safe. _

“I uh...well I had just changed it after the exam because I needed to, f-for the clothing allowance. I wasn’t really sure how to before until I looked it up, so it was something I kinda had on the back burner…” Izuku mumbled. 

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. “I see. So when did your Quirk come in, Midoriya?”

Izuku cringed. “About...10 months ago…?” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Excuse me?” 

“It uh, I had tr-traces of my Quirk as a kid. Like feelings, but it n-never was considered a Quirk. Since nothing actively manifested…” He was beginning to ramble now and wring his hands. He kept his head down, afraid to look up and see the man’s expression. “My Quirk uh...didn’t fully manifest until I was…attacked by a villain?” It sounded more like a question than an answer. 

“What?” He raised his voice a bit, making the boy flinch.

“I was attacked by a villain…” Izuku said again, cringing at the memory of the Slime Villain. “I was panicking and my Quirk activated.” He finished. 

Aizawa stared at him for a moment, he supposed it made a little sense. Given how he had lost control in the Entrance Exam. If his Quirk was that volatile that meant he had to keep an eye on his new problem child, especially if his powers were to flare out like that again. He only had it for 10 months and displayed good control over it. Even so he could see the occasional spark around him, a Quirk attached to his emotions, perfect. 

“Alright, good to know.” He sighed. “But Midoriya, Quirks that are activated through trauma and manifest at such a late age can be unpredictable. If you start having problems you are to come to me and we can set you up with a Quirk Counselor. Understand?” 

Izuku hesitantly looked up at the man, his expression unreadable. Still looking tired and bored as ever.

“Yes sir...I understand.” Izuku nodded.

“Good, now get going. I’ve used up enough of your time, lunch should be starting soon. Go eat something.”

“Y-Yes sir!” Izuku nodded and darted away, putting as much distance between them as he could. Eager to meet up with his new friends, and look for the missing Moogle.

From afar All Might stared on in relief, he had been passing by looking for the small intruder when he saw the two alone. He was scared Aizawa had figured the kid out and was interrogating him, or expelling him. No doubt either option would raise some kind of hell upon them via Guardian. The kid was safe for now, and for the time being he would keep his mouth shut.

**-.-**

  
  


“Midoriya, over here!” Iida spotted the green haired boy and waved him over.

“Oh, he’s here?” Ochako asked with her mouth full.

“Uraraka, please don’t talk with your mouth full!” Iida shouted. Making a noise of disapproval as she stuck her tongue out at him.

Izuku jogged over and placed his bag on the floor before sitting next to them. The cafeteria was huge, Izuku was surprised his friends had been able to spot him from where they were sitting. 

“Hey.” He smiled, breaking his chopsticks and taking a bite of his food.

“What did Mr. Aizawa want to talk about?” Ochako asked, leaning forward a bit.

“Uraraka! That’s his business, you shouldn’t pry into things like this.” Iida began making chopping motions with his hands.

“It’s no problem Iida.” Izuku waved his hands to try and calm him. “And it wasn’t much of anything, he just wanted to talk about my Quirk. Just making sure that I have it under control, he saw what happened during the Entrance Exam and wanted to make sure I have a good handle on my powers. I did go kinda nuts there.”

“Well at least he’s acting like a proper teacher now.” Iida muttered.

“Oh yeah, you know I never asked but what is your Quirk anyway Deku?” 

“Deku?” Izuku nearly choked on his food and looked at Ochako.

“Yeah isn’t that your name? I mean that’s what Bakugo called you.” She gave him a look of confusion.

“O-Oh! No, Deku isn’t my name. Deku is what Katsuki calls me to make fun of me, you see my real name is Izuku.” 

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“That’s awfully rude of him…”

“It’s okay, but yeah my name is Izuku.” He smiled.

Ochako smiled back before nodding. “Alrighty, Izuku then.”

He felt his face warm up before coughing into his fist. “R-Right, yeah. So, you asked about my Quirk…” Izuku looked around before holding his hands out, conjuring up a small flame.

“Hold on, I thought you had an electricity Quirk!” Iida exclaimed.

“Well, kinda but not really. My Quirk is called Energy Conversion.” Izuku changed the flame into a small ball of water. “You see I take my own energy and I convert into other types. Fire, lightning, water, wind, ice. I was actually using wind during the tests since I thought those would be best suited.”

“Woah, that’s an amazing Quirk!” Ochako grinned, watching in awe as the water froze into a chunk of ice. 

“Thanks.” Izuku smiled. “Your Quirk is really cool too. I mean being able to nullify the gravity of an object or a person, that’s a great power! It’s great for rescues and even in combat it can give you the upper hand.” 

“You know I’m actually interested in going into rescue as a hero. I really think I could help people with this Quirk.”

The three had settled into a comfortable discussion, talking about their Quirks and their expectations of the Heroics class. They would occasionally jump at the loud crack of thunder, it had started raining at some point. Something that made Izuku mentally groan to himself.

“Okay, I have to ask.” Ochako stopped the conversation to change the subject, prompting the two to look at her. “Who are your favorite heroes?” 

Izuku beamed at the question, though Iida ended up answering first.

“Ingenium of course! He’s the one who inspired me to be a hero!”

“Ingenium? The Turbo Hero? Hold on...isn’t his last name…” Izuku trailed off while Iida nodded.

“Yes, he’s my older brother!” He smiled. “My brother has followed the Hero Code and always does his best to help people wherever he can. I aspire to be the kind of hero he is.”

“Woah, it must be cool having a family of heroes…” Izuku mumbled. “What about you Uraraka?”

Ochako leaned back in her seat, putting a finger to her chin before humming. “I wanna say Thirteen. She’s so cool, and it’s rescue heroes like her that inspire me to use my Quirk in different ways. I gotta say Mirko is pretty cool too, even if she can be a little aggressive.”

“Interesting, what about you Midoriya?” Iida turned his attention to Izuku.

“Oh! Me, uh...well…” He rubbed the back of his neck, one had unconsciously going to the necklace that kid beneath his shirt. “All Might is one of my favorites, but I’m gonna be honest he’s kinda in the number two spot for me.” 

“Oh?” Ochako leaned forward with a curious grin. “Who’s in number one?”

Izuku smiled to himself. “Well, I’m not sure if she counts or if you guys would count her. But it’s Guardian.”

Iida sputtered.

“Guardian? But she’s a vigilante! One my brother has attempted to capture time and time again. She always slips away though…”

“Oh Guardian, I’ve heard of her. Isn’t she the vigilante that shows up at night and fights off the monsters? She sounds pretty cool, she must be exhausted, going out every night to fight all those things off.”

_ She is… _

“But she’s a vigilante.” Iida continued to argue. “She’s not a licensed hero and technically takes part in illegal activity.”

But she does a lot of good.” Izuku pointed out. “She can take out the monsters in one go, and she’s saved a lot of people who can’t get home in time. Or are just stuck outside, I mean she’s even saved a couple of heroes.” 

“She has also gotten into a few fights with heroes.”

“I think she only punched Endeavor  _ once _ .”

“Oh I saw that video!” Ochako cut in. “That was crazy, that was one of the only times she was out in broad daylight. She actually punched him in the face!”

“He was so mad…” Izuku remembered the fight on the social media pages. People either laughed at Endeavor and sided with Guardian or chastised her while being sympathetic to the Flame Hero.

Izuku remembered when he asked about that incident. Master Aqua had only grumbled about him misusing his power and nearly getting someone killed. It had been early on before she had changed to night patrols only. 

She had also described his face as ‘very punchable’ and left it at that.

“I get that she’s a vigilante, but I will admit I am pretty biased. I mean, I was one of the people that Guardian actually saved.” Izuku admitted. 

_ I’m actually really biased _ .

“She saved me as a kid, and you know she was a hero that was actually in my life at some point. So yeah, I look up to her. She does a lot of good, even though she’s breaking the law she still does the right thing. It’s not like I plan on becoming a vigilante just because I look up to one.” 

Iida hummed and crossed his arms. 

  
“I suppose it is admirable, and it is good that you’re choosing to take the proper channels.”

“Sometimes people can’t play by the same rules Iida.” Izuku hummed. “Sometimes circumstances make us take another route.”

“Still though, I-” Iida stopped mid sentence and looked at Izuku. “Midoriya, did you kick me?” He asked.

“What? No! Why would I-” Izuku felt a bump on his leg and looked under the table, eyes widening as he saw a familiar face clinging onto his leg.

“Hi Kupo…”

Iida and Ochako looked down to see what Izuku had spotted. Ochako gasped in surprise while Tenya stared in confusion.

“What on earth…”

“It’s a Moogle!” Ochako grinned.

“A what?”

“Mogma?” Izuku muttered.

“Hi Kupo…”

Izuku frowned and pulled his backpack under the table so the small intruder could climb inside.

“Where have you been? I have been worried sick all day...please tell me you didn’t get caught or something.”

“Nope.” 

Izuku sighed.

“I  _ almost  _ did!”

“Mogma!”

“I didn’t know you’re friends with a Moogle.” Ochako continued to stare in awe. “Mind if I ask what you sell?” She turned her attention to Mogma who had climbed into Izuku’s backpack, which was now resting in his lap. 

“Excuse me, but may I ask what in the world is a Moogle? I have never seen a creature like yourself.” Iida leaned forward warily. 

“Moogle are basically merchants, Kupo, we sell stuff at reasonable prices. Occasionally trade if you’ve got anything that interests us. And as for my wares…” He turned to Ochako and pulled out a small bag, digging through it and pulling out a few bracelets and potions. From where he was Izuku could see a few synthesis items in the bag, ones he had certainly never seen before. 

_ Oh don’t tell me he stole from the school… _

“I’ve got these if they interest you.” Mogma hummed.

“Oh, can I see this one?” Ochako pointed to a silver bracelet with pink and purple threads. 

“Sure!”

“I’m sorry but do you have a permit to sell your wares on campus?” Iida asked, eyeing the creature.

“No.” Izuku frowned. “Because he snuck in the backpack while I wasn’t looking.”

“In my defense, you should have been paying attention, Kupo.” Mogma shrugged.

“I was putting stuff away!” Izuku defended himself, he leaned a little closer so the others wouldn’t hear. “And just imagine what Master is gonna say when she finds out about this.”

Mogma froze then slowly looked to Izuku once Ochako had put down the bracelet and apologized for not having any cash on her.

“Oh yeah, Kupo we need to get home like  _ now _ .”

Izuku further lowered his voice. “Oh, now you want to go home? Mogma it’s not like I can just skip school.”

“Okay but like, I really need to talk to Aqua  _ now _ .”

Izuku stared at the Moogle before narrowing his eyes. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything! But the point still stands that I need to- eep!” The three jumped at the shout of fear he gave before hiding in Izuku’s backpack again and closing it up. 

The three stared at the closed up bag in confusion.

“I’m sorry, did I...miss something?” Tenya asked, looking at the bag.

“I don’t think so?” Izuku mumbled, poking at the bag and getting his hand swatted away. 

“Maybe he just saw something that spooked him.” Ochako hummed, looking up when the bell rang.

Izuku slung his backpack over his shoulders and sighed. “I guess so, I’ll have to talk to him about it later.”

“How did you not notice him in your bag?” Tenya asked, watching it rustle for a moment before going still. 

“I guess I thought I packed a lot more than I thought.” Izuku explained. “I mean I did kinda cram a lot of stuff in my bag if I’m being honest. I didn’t really think about it until well...I found out I had a stowaway.”

As the three made their way to class Mogma peeked out of the bag to look around, just a few ways away he could see who had been chasing him earlier. He had barely gotten away from him with way too many close calls. 

Mogma gasped to himself as the boy, Mirio, spotted him from afar. He was getting closer and about to approach them when the warning bell went off and made the group of first-years look up in surprise.

“I thought we had more time!”

“Apparently not!”

“We can’t be late, that would be unbecoming-”

“Just hurry up Iida!”

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


Izuku sighed to himself as he made his way into the house, dragging the metal sheet back in its place before turning to the living room. 

“I’m home!” He called.

There was a gasp and Eri came running out of the kitchen. “You’re home!” She shouted.

“Yup!”

“Aqua! Aqua Izuku’s home!” She ran over to the stairs and yelled.

Izuku walked forward and watched as his Master came down the stairs. She looked up and smiled when she saw Izuku.

“Hey you, how was your first day?” She walked over.

“It was good, kind of stressful.” He rubbed the back of his head. 

“First day nerves?” She asked, making herself a cup of coffee. 

Izuku shifted and took his bag off his shoulders, keeping it in his arms. “Well, yeah. That’s part of it.”

Aqua stopped and looked up. “What do you mean? What happened?”

Izuku sighed and looked at his bag. “Do you wanna tell her or me?” He asked.

Aqua opened her mouth to ask what he meant when his backpack opened and one of the Moogles slowly came out.

“Hello…” He mumbled.

“Mogma!” One of the older Moogles shouted. “That’s where you were all day? We thought you just took off without letting anyone know!”

“Hold on, wait, what happened?” Aqua asked, watching Izuku lower his backpack so Mogma could hop out. 

“He snuck in my backpack this morning.” Izuku sighed. “And then ran off while we had to do a Quirk Apprehension Test. He didn’t find me until about lunch time.”

Mogma went still as Aqua and a few of the other Moogles stared at him. He could feel the waves of disappointment and anger coming off them.

“Okay, I know that sounds bad  _ but _ , one I found some neat synthesis materials that they had lying around.”

“You stole from the school?!”

“Well they weren’t gonna use it properly. And two, Kupo I need to talk to you.” He pointed at Aqua. “I found some stuff out and I really,  _ really _ need to tell you this stuff.”

Aqua groaned and rubbed her eyes. “You snuck into the school and stole stuff...Mogma please tell me that nobody saw you.”

“Uh...Kupo’s friends saw me. And All Might...and someone else…”

“All Might saw you?” Aqua almost raised her voice. “Mogma…”

“Kupo! You can scold me later but I really gotta talk to you so can I  _ please _ tell you?” Mogma hopped up and down frantically. “This is some really serious stuff!”

“What did you find?” Izuku asked.

“Can’t tell you yet. Kupo please?”

Aqua stared at the young Moogle for a moment before sighing and downing the cup of coffee. She took a moment before speaking. “Izuku, why don’t you go change and then do whatever homework you might have. Eri, you wanna sit with him?’

Eri nodded excitedly.

“Okay, Mogma put what you took on the table. We can’t exactly return it without raising suspicion, then meet me upstairs and I’ll talk to you. The rest of you, do not harass him. I know what he did was risky, but I’m sure he understands the consequences of what he’s done and what  _ could _ have happened.” She continued. 

While Mogma began to walk away, Aqua smiled to herself and ruffled Izuku’s hair. “Welcome home.”

Izuku smiled and nodded. “It’s good to be home.”

Aqua made sure the others were okay and see if they needed anything before following Mogma upstairs. She was already planning out a lecture for him after he had told her whatever he needed to. She was almost ready to think he had just called this private meeting to plead his case and get off with little to no punishment. 

Mogma hurried upstairs and ran to the same table she had sat with Izuku at. He hopped on top of a chair and waited for her to sit down. Once she was in front of him he immediately went off.

“Okay! So I was walking around the school just looking around and looking for some neat stuff. I ended up walking past a room where I heard two people talking and I got curious. I know you and all the older people tell us not to eavesdrop but I couldn’t help myself and I snuck in there.”

Aqua watched Mogma as he spoke, despite him going at a fast pace she was quick to catch up with what he was saying.

“In that room was All Might, and some kid named Togata. Clearly older than Izuku but we can get to that later! Here’s the thing though Kupo, the guy who said he was All Might didn’t look like All Might at all! He was all skinny and withered and looked like he was on death’s door. The Togata guy said he wanted to talk to All Might about his power and apparently its something called One For All, and it boosted his power which is neat and all but that’s not the point!”

Aqua stared at Mogma for a moment, taking in what she had just heard. All Might didn’t look like himself, he was sickly. He asked her how she chose her ‘successor’. The pieces began to click together when Mogma took a deep breath and continued. 

“The point is Kupo, I heard them talking about something that’s bad. Really, really bad. Apparently some guy called Nighteye used something called Foresight which I guess is his Quirk, but it can see into the future from what I’m guessing. They were talking about it, and it sounds like this guy saw the world was ending.”

Aqua stiffened up at that. “What?”

  
“He saw the world falling to darkness, and the people’s futures he saw went dark. Apparently he used his Quirk on Togata, and saw him as the only survivor of what happened.”

Aqua stared at Mogma silently before standing up and turning away, taking a moment to process everything. 

All Might was sick, he passed his power down to this Togata person. A young man, still a  _ child _ . Nighteye had foreseen the world falling to darkness which either meant she was going to die or fail in some way. She didn’t know the specifics about Nighteye’s Quirk other than he could peer into the future of a person. 

“Kupo...does this mean the world is going to fall to darkness? What’s gonna happen to us?” Mogma hopped off the chair and approached her. “I thought the seal on the world might keep us safe.”

“It keeps anyone from coming and going the normal way, it didn’t cut off the Realm of Darkness.” She muttered. She looked down, going over different options and scenarios in her head. She didn’t have enough information, she needed to know more. Maybe there was a way to stop or delay it. Izuku didn’t even have his Keyblade yet, she didn’t know when it would manifest but she knew it’d be soon. She could feel his magic growing stronger every day since the Entrance exam.

“Kupo?”

Aqua took a deep breath and stood up straight. “Mogma, this stays between us, understand? If this gets out the others may panic, and panicking won’t get us anywhere.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I’m going to have to pay Nighteye a visit.”

  
  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


“Be good you two.” Aqua smiled at Izuku, who was finishing Eri’s hair. 

“You’re heading out already?” Izuku asked, looking at the clock. “It’s a little early isn’t it?”

Aqua shrugged and walked over to them, opening her arms and catching Eri who jumped towards her. She hugged Eri tightly and looked over the two. “I’ve just got a few errands to run, it’d be best to get them done now before it gets too late.”

“What kind of errands?” Eri asked fussing with a strand of Aqua hair.

“Hmm, errands.” She smiled.

“Aww can’t you tell us?” Eri whined.

“Nope.” 

Eri whined as Aqua gave her another tight hug before putting her down. 

Izuku came over and Aqua ruffled his hair. “Make sure you two go to bed on time, the latest you can stay up is 10. You’ve got school tomorrow,” she pointed at Izuku, “and you shouldn’t be keeping my late hours.” She pointed at Eri who playfully stuck out her tongue. 

“I’ll be back in the morning, be good, try not to cause too much chaos while I’m gone.” She put on her helmet and tucked in any strands of hair sticking out. 

“No promises.” Izuku grinned. 

Aqua looked at him. “I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear that.” Smiling beneath her visor as he and Eri laughed to themselves. “Okay then, I’m heading off.” She walked towards the door.

“Be careful!” Izuku called.

“See you in the morning.” Eri waved.

“Yeah, I’ll see you in the morning.” Aqua waved before slipping out and taking off. She made her way to the rooftops quickly, seeing it as the fastest way to get around. She had a general idea where Nighteye’s Agency was, she had been in that area once or twice in the past year. Ever since the man had chased after her for hours and always seemed to predict where she was, he was always two steps ahead.

Last time she had to use Stop to get him off her back. Time magic wasn’t her specialty and was exhausting to use. Especially after a long period of time. The man was a pain in every way and she wasn’t looking forward to the meeting, though whether she liked it or not she had to see him. She needed answers. 

Aqua smiled to herself as she leapt over a gap between buildings. Thinking back to what Izuku had told her about his day. She couldn’t help but let herself feel proud. Izuku had gotten third place in the Quirk Apprehension Tests, from what he had said the top 5 were neck and neck with each other. Either way, he still did better than Katsuki. The boy who constantly tried to tear him down again and again, her student had risen above that. He was growing, he was getting better, he was working hard to get to the top. Aqua may have had a hand in it, but Izuku had done a great deal of that on his own. His hard work was his own, she only gave him the basics. 

She was excited to see where he was going to go, during his school years, once he graduates, once he’s a hero. She had no doubt he’d go far, and she wanted to be there to see it. She had to, but she couldn’t do that if the world was gone.

She huffed and leapt again, using a bit of ice magic to keep herself from slipping and falling over. It was raining hard and the water made it difficult to always make a graceful landing. She was about to start running across the roof again when a white and blue blur hopped from wall to wall and leapt onto the rooftop. He landed safely and looked up to see Aqua had stopped to stare at him.

“Found ya!” Without another word he kicked his engines into high gear and raced towards her.

Aqua couldn’t help but let a smile play on her lips before leaping into the air and icing over the roof. She heard a yelp of surprise as the hero tried to stop himself, only to crash into the railing and knock the wind out of himself.

“You really need to work on running on slippery areas, there might not be a railing there to save you next time.” Aqua crossed her arms and looked at the hero.

“Oh ha ha, like you wouldn’t catch me.” He slowly made his way over to her.

“Hmm, I dunno. I mean you came pretty close to catching me last time. I don’t think I can trust you.” She hummed, walking away to the other side of the roof and hopping on the railing. 

“Aw come on, you’re the one that kept slipping up.”

“I wasn’t the one slipping up, excuse you.” She laughed, hopping to the next roof. 

“Hey hold on now!” Ingenium went chasing after her.

“Listen if you’re going to talk to me then try to to keep up.” Aqua rolled her eyes and kept moving forward. 

“You act like that’s such a hard thing!” He used his engines to speed forward, catching up to her quickly. Aqua could almost see the grin beneath his helmet. “So, you seem to be in a hurry. Going somewhere?”

“Just have to pay someone a visit.” She answered. 

“Oh? One of the rare times you’re working with the police again? Who caused so much trouble that you’ve decided to work with law enforcement again?” He asked, keeping pace with her. 

“It’s not that someone’s causing trouble, rather  _ something _ and I heard that a certain someone might be able to help me.”

“Oh? And who, pray tell, is this person?”

Aqua groaned as she landed on another rooftop and quickly changed directions. She was certain she was heading in the right direction anyway. It had been a long time since she went anywhere near his turf.

“Nighteye.” She answered.

Ingenium sputtered and nearly fell over in surprise, quickly recovering and pulling ahead of her a bit. “Didn’t he try to hunt you down the last time he saw you? And he’s pretty vocal about not liking the route you’ve taken. Regardless of you being a big help or not.”

“Yeah well I’m not in the mood to take any of his criticisms. He has something I want to know and I’m certain I may have something he wants to know. It’s just a matter of finding a way to talk it out. Which I have a feeling he may not want to do.”

“What are you gonna do? Freeze him over if he won’t comply?”

“If I have to.”

Ingenium shot her a look before looking straight ahead. “This is really serious if you’re willing to use force. What’s going on?”

Aqua frowned and pulled ahead of him.

“Hey, Guardian!” Ingenium called, speeding up. “Listen, if you just talk to me I can help!”

“Well the thing is I don’t know how I would go about solving this problem. So you can’t exactly help me at the moment.” 

“And you think Nighteye can give you some insight?”

“That’s what I’m hoping.” She pointed her weapon at the hero and shot out some ice, a frozen platform catching him where he would have slipped. “And I need to know what I  _ can  _ do.”

Ingenium nodded and followed after her in silence. Hopping from building to building, occasionally stopping to get their bearings. It wasn’t until they were in the area of his agency that he spoke up again.

“Hey, Guardian.”

“Hmm?”

“Listen.” He walked forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. “If something’s going on, and you need to talk about it then you can talk to me you know? You’re a criminal yes, but you’re a person first. I know you don’t know me very well, and I don’t know you too well either, but I still consider you a friend...and a hero.” 

Aqua glanced over her shoulder at him, she hated the helmets they wore sometimes. Sometimes she wished they didn’t have to cover their faces. So in the least they could tell how sincere they were being with each other. Sometimes, she really just wanted to see the face of someone she was willing to call her friend. 

“Something’s bothering you, that’s easy to see. So honestly, if you need help, if you need someone to lean on I will help you. You just have to ask, Guardian.”

Aqua watched him for a moment before sighing. “When did I become so easy to read?” She smiled.

“Eh, I’ve been chasing after you for a while. And you lost the cool and mysterious points when I saw you gushing over a dog once.” He grinned. 

She laughed, and it sounded like pleasant and musical bell chimes to him. It was rare to get a laugh from her, and he couldn’t help euphoria whenever he made it happen.

“Do you usually befriend vigilantes wanted by the law?”

“Only the ones I like.” He shrugged. 

Her laughter slowly faded and she cleared her throat, going quiet. She looked around, tilting her head this way and that to listen for any tell tale of the Heartless creeping around. It was unusually quiet that night, leaving an uneasy feeling in her. Where were they?

Dread creeped up inside her, leaving the taste of bitter and coarse rust in her mouth, drying out her throat. Her hand tightened on her weapon, the solid weight of the Keyblade keeping her grounded and getting ahead of herself. She acknowledged the icy pinpricks that ran up and down her spine, screaming that she should be alarmed and ready. That something was coming. 

After all these years she’s learned to listen to her instincts.

“Ingenium.” She spoke, flinching at the crack in her voice.

“Guardian.”

“I can trust you right? Genuinely.”

“Yeah, of course you can. Why, what’s going on?” He stepped forward.

Aqua stared at the streets, scanning, scanning, where were they? Why weren’t they here?

Mogma’s words rattled around in her mind. What he had heard, the world was going to fall to darkness. Which meant she either died or disappeared. Which meant there was no one to take care of them, of Eri, Izuku, the Moogles. There would be no one to take care of her family, if she couldn’t stop this.  _ Could _ she stop this? Was there any chance? If she couldn’t then there’d be nothing left. 

“Guardian?”

She frowned to herself and looked to him. “There’s something coming, and I don’t know if I can stop it.” She admitted, slowly turning towards him. “I...I don’t know if this is something I can handle on my own. That’s why I’m reaching out to Nighteye, I’m just hoping there’s  _ something _ I can do. There has to be....I refuse to lose anyone else.” 

Ingenium looked up at that.

Anyone else…

A few gears began to turn in his head as he took another step forward. “Guardian…” He stopped himself, unsure what comfort he could really offer. He sighed and looked to the side. “I’m sure you can figure something out, you’ve gotten out of really bad situations before, I’m sure you can get out of this one.”

Aqua shook her head. “Well, we can only hope. Come on, we should keep moving.” She took off again with the hero in tow. 

The two went in silence for a while, both focusing on what was in front of them. Aqua was fidgety, eyes darting everywhere. There was no trace of Heartless, not yet. It was already midnight, and that was usually when most of the Heartless came out. The fact there was nothing on the streets unsettled her. Not even the late night walkers or people who were struggling to get home. 

The area was dead.

She suddenly stopped in her tracks, holding out an arm to stop Ingenium.

“What’s wrong? We’re almost to Nighteye’s Agency.” He asked, pointing ahead to a mundane building in the distance.

“Something’s wrong. It’s too quiet, no monsters have shown up to attack us. Even the late night stragglers are gone.” She muttered, slowly creeping forward. “It’s too easy, something should have attacked us by now.”

“Now that you mention it, it  _ is _ pretty weird.” Ingenium muttered. “Weren’t there a ton the night before?”

“Yes, there were.” Aqua nodded. She stood there for a while, scanning the streets and trying to listen for any of the Heartless. 

“There!” Ingenium shouted, pointing at the street below. One small shadow appeared, and began to run down the street. A few more appeared and followed in a hurried frenzy, all of them heading in the same direction.

“What’s that all about?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Come on, let’s go!” Aqua took off, keeping to the roofs of the buildings. She eyed the Heartless as they ran, noticing they became more excitable the further they went. 

It didn’t take long to find out why.

Aqua froze in her tracks once she saw it.

All the shadows were gathering at one place, piling together and combining into a mass of darkness. A large sphere took shape, taking in shadow after shadow; growing larger and larger. The shadows that weren’t added to the large sphere instead began to swirl around it, turning it into a large tornado of darkness.

“Oh my god...what is that thing?” Ingenium asked.

“I...I don’t know.” She muttered before shaking her head. “Whatever it is, we can’t let it get any bigger!” Aqua stepped forward and pointed her Keyblade at it. “If you want to get out of here, I recommend you start running.”

“As if I’d leave you on your own with this thing.” Ingenium readied himself, shuddered as the air got colder.

“Alright then, get ready.” Aqua dropped the temperature further and further, gathering up as much magic energy as she could. Forming the spell into a giant arrow. “Blizzaga: Ice Arrow!” 

The arrow shot down towards the mass, freezing over anything in its path before slamming into the large sphere. Before it could drive in too far the shadows that were swarming around the core wrapped around the arrow and shattered it. 

“Alright we’ve got their attention, you got a plan in mind?” Ingenium asked, his engines flaring out.

“Try to take out the core.” She pointed at the dark sphere being surrounded by the shadows. “And don’t die.”

“I like that plan.”

They jumped away as the shadows slammed onto the roof, scattering before regrouping and taking to the sky. The two ran to avoid the shadows as they came rushing down, kicking up dust and concrete wherever they went. 

Aqua sprinted forward to catch up to the head of the horde, seeing the core beneath the writhing shadows. She huffed and held up her Keyblade, fire gathering around her. She fired off spell after spell, great balls of flame slamming into the Heartless. When some faded away and revealed the core more surged forward to cover it back up. 

Ingenium was a few feet behind her, kicking away some of the stray shadows and knocking them away.

_ They’re endless. _

Aqua hummed as she surrounded herself in a ring of flames, then a second ring of ice. She focused on the energy gathering inside of her, letting it build up more and more. She jumped forward and began striking down shadow after shadow, getting closer to the core. Any shadow that came too close either burned up in fire or was frozen and shattered. 

Aqua shouted as she struck the core again and again, being carried along by the shadows. The passing shadows tried to claw into her and tear into her armor. Only to be knocked away as soon as they came.

Just as she was about to unleash a flurry of magic on the core, the shadows began to frenzy. Yellow eyes turning orange and rushing at both herself and Ingenium. Tearing up anything in their paths. 

The shadows threw the Keyblade Master to the street.

“Guardian!” Ingenium yelled, sprinting to try and stay ahead of the horde. 

Aqua rolled to her feet and looked over to the hero, she yelled as she shot a spell towards him. Just as the tide crashed down on him a clear shield appeared around him. Sending the shadows scattering before regrouping. She snapped her fingers and made the shield explode, giving him room to run ahead to safety.

“You okay?” He asked.

Aqua grinned and nodded. “Perfectly fine.” She gathered the built up energy and felt it wrap around herself. A soft pink glow surrounded her body. 

_ Good, keep it going! _

“Let’s go.”

They rushed forward again and dodged the few swarms that branched off from the tide to attack them. They both shouted as they attacked the core, delivering blow after blow. Aqua let her Keyblade flow around her, magic carrying it and cutting through the Heartless. Every time she tried to cut through the shadowy core it rebounded and was sent flying back to her. 

_ I need more power! _

“Ingenium get back!” She shouted, grabbing her Keyblade and aiming at the tide. He looked up at her shout and obeyed, running to get out of range. Just as he got out of the way she threw a wave of fire at the tide, watching the flames encompass the mass. She leapt out of the way as they came charging out and slamming into the ground.

_ Good, keep on coming! _

Aqua used her magic to leap above the tide and rain down great sparks that danced along the street. She just had to wear it down, as long as she kept raining down blows she would destroy the core at some point. She had to. Everything has a limit, she just had to find how far this thing could push itself. 

“Guardian get down!” Ingenium leapt from a rooftop to grab her, dragging her down as the Demon Tide frenzied again and came rushing towards them. The Heartless slammed into them and drove them to the ground. Aqua shouted as she forced a shield to manifest around them, protecting them from the rest of the attack. They watched as the shadows bounced off and regrouped to slam back into the magic shield. Ingenium eyed the growing cracks warily.

“Will this thing hold?”

“I’ve got plenty of energy to spare, we'll be fine!” She grunted, holding her hands out to reinforce it. 

They came over and over again, Aqua pushing back each time they tried to break it. As soon as it let up she shattered the shield and began chasing after the Heartless again. The two watched as the Heartless took to the sky, climbing high before glowing orange again and rushing back to the earth. 

“Move!” They jumped out of the way as the shadows crashed into the ground, a dark void appearing beneath them.

“What the…”

“Get out of the way!” Aqua grabbed Ingenium before the shadows erupted where he was. “Keep moving!” 

They raced down the streets, the Demon Tide following close behind them. Crashing to the ground and appearing a few feet away from them. It was starting to get faster, and more aggravated. The tide disappeared into the ground before reappearing in front of the heroes and barreling towards them. 

Ingenium ducked into an alley while Aqua took it head on, blocking the shadows and getting in hits when she could. They destroyed any buildings in their path, causing rubble to rain down. 

_ Don’t tell me all the shadows took everyone here. Did they? _

Aqua shook her head and turned her focus back to the fight, lowering the shield and chasing after the now calm tide.

“Its aggression levels just change on a whim doesn’t it?”

“Unfortunately.” Aqua frowned. 

Ingenium looked around hurriedly, gasping as he saw a tall intact building. “Hey, Guardian, I’ve got an idea. But you need to keep this thing in this area. Do you have any way to bind this thing?”

Aqua looked at her Keyblade as it let off a golden glow. “Yes.”

“Cool, just keep it distracted!” He ran towards the large building, using his Quirk to scale the fire escape.

“Will do.” Aqua muttered, sprinting forward towards the tide. The Heartless grew excited at her approach, rushing towards her. Aqua eyed the side of the building, seeing her friend climb up as fast as he could. 

Aqua froze mid step and held up her Keyblade, allowing a mixture of fire and lightning to surround her. As the Demon Tide was about to crash down on her, Aqua shouted and pushed back with a wall of raging flames and lightning. The flames wrapped around the core and ate up the Heartless surrounding it, leaving it partially exposed. 

She looked up to see Ingenium was almost to the top, she just needed to expose the core a little more.

Within moments the fire had extinguished, but Aqua was ready with another spell. Water gathered around the entirety of the Demon Tide, closing in and pushing back whenever it tried to break out. 

_ Just a little more. _

Aqua grunted as she began to freeze the water, trapping the tide in there. She grit her teeth as she forced the ice to travel deeper, to cover every shadow and freeze it over. She ignored the cold that began to creep up her arms, packing in the ice tighter and tighter.

She backed up and caught her breath, concentrating on keeping the ice from breaking. Some of the shadows were still struggling and trying to break free. The core began to glow an angry red, steam appearing where it struggled.

She looked up at the sound of a loud boom to see Ingenium yelling as he shot down towards the core, his engines blazing. 

Aqua rushed forward and pointed her Keyblade at him, shooting a bright light towards him. It gathered around him, a form of protection from the fall. Shimmers of light trailed after him as he fell, aiming right for the core.

“Recipro Burst!” 

He slammed into the core and shattered the ice and the Heartless surrounding it, leaving it open. He shouted as he hit the ground. 

“Guardian now!”

“Right!”

Aqua leapt in front of the core, golden chains surrounding her. She pointed the Keyblade at the core and sent the chains after it. The glowing chains surrounded the core and tightened around it. Keeping any more shadows from gathering.

Aqua gasped as she felt the energy building up evolve into something different. A bright glow surrounded her and wrapped around her Keyblade, transforming it into a large blade made of light. She rushed forward faster than had been expecting to and slammed the blade into the core.

Ingenium shuddered violently as he was filled with what he could only describe as immense power. It almost felt like too much for one person to handle, hot and cold mixing together with the sparks of lightning and heaviness of gravity. It was  _ invigorating _ . He hadn’t noticed the glow that surrounded him as well. 

Without another thought he took off and barreled into the core of the tide. It shuddered violently under their attacks, writhing in desperation as it tried to escape. The two dashed around the core and each other, landing blow after blow and slowly tearing it apart. 

After a while Ingenium had noticed his attacks would have different elements trailing after them, a small wave of fire or water, or the chilling ice that froze whatever it touched. It was only then it had dawned on him.

He and Guardian, they were borrowing power from each other. His speed and her...pure energy. He couldn’t deny the rush he felt with each attack, only able to wonder if this is what being her felt like. Her power, it almost felt liberating.

“Ingenium!”

He sped forward without thinking, as if he already knew what she was planning. 

He stopped beside her, beneath the core and nodded at her. He felt the power he borrowed flow into his hands as he aimed them at the core. Golden light surrounded them and encompassed the core, blinding them as it washed away the shadows. 

The chains broke and the core gathered shadows around itself, compressing them tightly around the core to protect itself. Once it was finished the core writhed and let out a haunting screech before slamming into the ground. 

The entire street turned black, buildings were dragged into the endless abyss as dark tendrils closed in to keep them from escaping the area.

“What is this? What is it doing?” Ingenium shouted, watching as the buildings were dragged away.

“I don’t know.” Aqua looked around, looking for the Demon Tide. “I’m more concerned where it-”

She was cut off as a tornado of raging shadows erupted from the ground beneath them and swept them away. They yelled as the enraged shadows surrounded them and tore into their armor. Leaving deep scratches and tearing off a few components. The shadows tore apart Ingenium’s armor like it was nothing, leaving his upper body exposed. 

The dark tornado threw Ingenium away to the street and continued to try to tear into Aqua. They chipped away pieces of her armor, hardly able to make a dent before losing patience and throwing her away. She landed on the ground with a crash, she stood up and glared at the red and black tornado. 

The bottom part of her mask had been broken off as well as parts of her arm guards. 

“Ingenium!” She looked over to him as he tried to get up. He was bloodied and scratched up, his mask in pieces beside him. He groaned and sat up, looking at the tornado. They didn’t have any time to react before the tornado began to spew shadows at them. Aqua put up a shield and looked over the hero.

“We really pissed them off huh?” Ingenium chuckled weakly. “They got me pretty good.”

“Shut up.” Aqua huffed, focusing on his wounds and healing them. “It has to be almost done, it’s just trying to stay alive at this point.”

“I take it you have a plan?” He asked, running his hands over the closed wounds. 

“Somewhat.” She grunted and reinforced the shield. The shadows angrily scratched at it furiously. 

“Cool, what are we gonna do?” He asked, getting to his feet.

“ _ You _ are going to stay here, that thing is going to try to tear us apart and your armor is already broken after just one big attack like that. Mine is still intact, so I’ll be fine.” She stood up and watched the shadows run back to their source. 

“Hold on you expect me to just sit here while you fight?”

“Yes.” 

“No way! Guardian I-”

“I’ll be fine, my armor can take their attacks. Your armor is pretty much gone, I don’t want to risk not being able to heal you.”

“Guardian…”

“‘I’ll be fine.” She stepped out the shield, keeping him inside. “They’re going to have to try a lot harder to kill me.” A bright glow surrounded her again, a beacon of light in the darkness.

After reinforcing the shield again Aqua rushed towards the swirling mass of Heartless. She was going to end it here and now. The Demon Tide seemed to acknowledge her presence, beginning to launch spheres of shadows into the sky. She dodged around them, focusing on getting closer to the core.

Just as she was before the tornado one of the dark spheres burst from the ground and barreled into her before disappearing into the ground again. She righted herself and looked around to see the dark orbs hopping around at random, trying to hone in on her.

Aqua was stuck dodging between the shadows that leapt out of the ground and the swirling mass of darkness that tried to chase her down. She would cut through the large orbs when she could and always tried to dodge every swarm that was aimed at her. She fired off spell after spell at the core, only for it to hit a wall of shadows every time. The Demon Tide was dying, and was doing whatever it had to in order to stay alive.

She yelled as she ran towards the heart of the shadows, blocking and slicing through the smaller spheres of Heartless. Just as she had cut down another group of Heartless the tornado frenzied again and rushed towards her, giving her no time to dodge. 

“Guardian!” Ingenium shouted as he watched the Demon Tide sweep her up. He heard a loud cry as she was dragged further and further into the swirling black mass. 

Aqua struggled against the shadows, surrounding herself in ice to try and get rid of the ones that were too close to her. She could see the core hanging high above her while the shadows furiously tore into her armor. Trying to rip her apart. She grunted and flinched at the sound of screeching metal as parts of her armor were ripped off. 

She continued to fire off large blizzard and thunder spells, clawing and pushing through shadows to get to the center of it all. She gathered up a lot of power and shot another blizzard spell at it, shaping it to be another arrow. She fired it off with a shout, grinning as it pierced through the core before dissolving. The core shuddered and let out another eerie cry as the Heartless grew angrier and became more eager to rip her apart. She put up a barrier to buy some time, only for them to break it halfway through its manifestation.

She was buried beneath countless shadows before being thrown out to the street with a crash. Aqua grunted and got to her feet. Her helmet was starting to crack, as well as other parts of her armor. She looked up to see the red and orange glow of the tornado as it swirled around, becoming more denser. She held up her Keyblade, daring it to come closer. She could see a few small shadows fall out of the swarm and dissipate. She just needed one more good hit. 

A low rumble filled the air and Aqua braced herself. She pushed more power into her Keyblade, making the blade glow even brighter. She was going to put an end to that thing. 

Without warning the shadows raced towards her, Aqua raised her Keyblade ready for one more good strike at the core. The shadows were almost upon her when she realized they weren’t aiming for her. The core rushed past her, barreling towards Ingenium. She whirled around in horror, seeing the shield was barely intact, most of it had been chipped away at.

“No!” She screamed, using magic to push herself forward and throw herself in the Demon Tide’s path. She thrust her blade at the dark horde, practically making them throw themselves at her Keyblade. The shadows split and rushed past her and the one she was protecting. They pushed against her blade, pushing her back a bit. 

Aqua grunted and forced herself to step forward against the rushing tide. She could cut through the core; she just needed a little more strength. The Demon Tide pushed even harder, making her lose ground. A few shadows that were flying off the swarm managed to scratch at her before disappearing.

“You’re not getting past me!” She screamed at the Demon Tide, moving forward and cutting into the core. The shadows wailed and tried to push against her. “I won’t let you!” As she took another step she gasped in pain as something in her shoulder popped. She flinched and the Demon Tide took advantage of that. Putting in one last push to try and kill the Keyblade Wielder and hero.

“Guardian!” Ingenium shouted, banging on the shield, seeing it flicker a little with his efforts. He watched her for a moment before shaking his head and throwing himself against the shield. She was losing ground, inch by inch, she just needed one final push. The barrier flickered and began to flake away the more he beat on it. He watched Guardian for a moment before moving back to the edge of the shield, aligning himself with Guardian. 

“This is probably gonna hurt…” He muttered, firing up his engines. He eyed the barrier and nodded to himself. “Definitely.”

He yelled as he raced forward, forcing himself to not freeze as he came closer to the fading wall that stood between them. He put more force into his engines, pushing them to the limits. He broke through the barrier with a loud shout, feeling a few of the shards cut his arms and face. He paid that no mind and raced towards Aqua. He raced forward and held out his arms, wrapping his hands around the hilt of the blade.

“Ingenium!” She shouted. “I told you to-”

“And what kind of a hero would I be if I let you take on this thing alone? You’re going to have to try a lot harder than that to keep me away, Guardian.”

She stared at him before nodding and looking at the Demon Tide again. 

“One more good push right? That’s all we need?”

“Yeah!”

“Then let's give it to ‘em!” He yelled as he fought against the tide, forcing the blade in deeper. The swarm panicked and yowled.

Aqua grit her teeth as she ignored the pain in her shoulder. It didn’t hurt, it didn’t hurt! She turned the pain to anger, anger towards the Heartless. It couldn’t be allowed to live and run rampant, not when it would kill even more people. 

_ Just a little more, just a little more. I just need a little more strength! _

Aqua’s Wayfinder shimmered for a moment, unbeknownst to her. She gasped as she felt phantom hands wrap around her own, pushing her forward and adding to the blinding light that was surrounding them. 

The two screamed as they put all their strength into one last strike, splitting the core in half. Just like that the shadows stopped, the angry glow fading as they all fell to the ground and disappeared in puffs of dark smoke.

The core idled for a moment before collapsing and letting off streams of spoke, slowly decaying into nothing. They watched it until it was finally gone, the darkness disappeared from the ground. Revealing the torn up street and lack of buildings around them.

“That was…”

“Exhausting?” Ingenium supplied.

Aqua shook her head. “That’s one word for it.”

Ingenium looked at her with a grin. “So...I guess I kinda lost the game. You know, as to who would unmask who first?”

Aqua laughed and gave him a shove before yelping in pain and holding her arm.

“Woah you good?”

“I’ll be fine, give me a second.” She held up a hand, a soft green glow appearing around them and healing all their injuries. Aqua grunted as she felt her shoulder pop back into place. Ingenium hummed as he felt the rest of the scrapes heal.

“So, are we ready to head to Nighteye’s Agency now” He asked, holding out a hand.

“I think you should head home Ingenium, your armor is gone and if more of those monsters show up you might get hurt.” She looked at him. “Just give me the address and I’ll head right over.”

“Tensei.”

“What?” 

He smiled down at her. “My name is Tensei, figured I should tell since I’m...well unmasked and all.”

Aqua smiled. “I see.”

“...What? Not gonna tell me your name?”

“Not until the mask comes off.” She starts walking forward, towards Nighteye’s Agency.

“Oh, well in that case…” He laughed, running towards her. She shouted and began to run ahead of him. “Get back here!”

“No!” She shouted, a laugh escaping as she pulled forward.

“My engines are overheated, that’s not fair!” 

“Yes it is!”

“No!”

They continued to run through the streets, laughing as they went. For just a moment it had been a victory they could be proud of. They were almost to Nighteye’s Agency when a loud boom of thunder startled them.

“Holy crap I forgot it was still storming.” Tensei panted.

“I hadn’t even realized it stopped raining.” Aqua murmured, looking around. The streetlights were out, it seemed all the power went out. That was unfortunate, she only hoped it wasn’t the entire city. Eri couldn’t sleep without her nightlight. 

“It might start up again, come on we’re almost there.” Tensei motioned for her to follow him as he ran forward. “It should be right over here, though he probably won’t answer since it’s so late. So I personally recommend going through a-” He froze in horror as he turned a corner, unable to finish his sentence.

“You recommend going through a- oh my god.” Aqua caught up to him and stopped in her tracks. “No…”

Where the street should have been instead was a large divide. A black and purple void where an entire block should have been. They stepped back as the ground began to crack.

“No way, what is this?” Tensei looked over the void, seeing nothing at the bottom. 

“Don’t tell me it’s…” Aqua stopped when she looked at the sky. “No, no way.” She shook her head.

“What?” Tensei looked at her before following her gaze and looked to the sky. He paled at what he saw.

The sky was dark, no stars could be seen among the black clouds. Lightning lit up the sky in brief moments, showing even larger cores of Demon Tides beginning to fall to the earth, ready to bring more chaos and tear the world apart.

_ Is the world collapsing? So soon? _

“No way, there are  _ more _ of those things?” Tensei asked. “We barely took care of that first one, that has to be hundreds if not more!” 

Aqua was silently panicking to herself. The world was falling apart, she failed, she hadn’t even been able to  _ try _ to save it. The world was falling apart, people were going to die. She was going to die-  _ Izuku and Eri were going to die _ .

She took in a shuddering gasp and stepped forward, looking down at the void. Was there anything she could do? Could she block out the darkness? Even for a little while longer? Could she buy them any more time?

Her mind was racing, looking for some kind of solution when she stopped. She  _ could _ buy them all time. She wasn’t sure how much though. 

“I think...I think I can stop all of them. At least for now.” She said, walking forward.

“What do you mean? Guardian I know you’re good but I don’t think you’re  _ that _ good. I don’t think even All Might could take all those on.” Tensei argued, watching her walk further ahead. “Guardian! What are you doing?”

Aqua took a deep breath and looked at the sky. “Buying some time.” The ground beneath her began to crack, tendrils of darkness seeping out. She paid them no mind, even when they began to wrap around her ankles, even when more of the world began to fall away.

She had a trick up her sleeve, something she had been saving for a long time. Storing magic whenever she could, at least 10 years worth of magic reserved for emergencies. She had hardly touched it in all that time.

“I recommend you get back, it’s not stable here and I don’t want you getting dragged into the darkness.” She said, ignoring his protests. 

“Guardian, get back here! What are you-” He was about to run towards her when the ground split and divided them. 

Aqua took another deep breath and focused, gripping Master Defender tightly. She began to draw out her magic, opening the dam and freeing a flood of raw magic power. A golden glow began to encompass her body, starting with her hands and travelling up her arms. Her helmet cracked and the rest of the pieces fell away, revealing her face. She took a moment to look at Tensei and smile as the light consumed the rest of her body, slightly dimmed as the darkness began to wrap around her to drag her down.

Tensei could only watch in a mixture of awe and fear as she was slowly dragged away. He had to get to her, or she would be taken too. 

Aqua took a deep breath and looked to the sky, hoping what she had was enough. 

“Tensei.” She looked towards him with a smile. “My name is Aqua.” 

He didn’t get to respond as she pointed her Keyblade to the sky, the light surrounding her was blinding. A spell she had used once before, but never on such a scale as she was trying now.

“Salvation!”

A brilliant column of light shot towards the sky, piercing into the clouds and driving away terrible darkness that resided within them. Shrieks of the Demon Tide cores could be heard through the entire city as they were banished by the light they feared. The faint stars could be seen in the sky, shining faintly, some fading away with a blink of an eye. 

The ground around Aqua fell apart beneath her feet temporarily driving away the darkness that lurked below. The light lasted for what seemed like hours, banishing all darkness and fear. Tensei felt the light pass through him, and felt nothing but warmth and safety. Without thinking he jumped over the divide, trying to reach for her. 

Soon the light began to fade, having drained away all of Aqua’s power and leaving her with nothing. She began to fall towards the void below until a hand grabbed her own. She looked up in surprise to see Tensei above her, hanging onto a light pole to keep from slipping. He yelped in surprise as the ground began to crumble beneath him, almost making him lose his grip on the light pole.

“Hold on!” He shouted. “You’re not falling, I'm not going to let you. You’re not done here Guardian!”

“T-Tensei!” She looked at the concrete that looked ready to give at any moment. “You have to let go or we’re both going to fall.”

“I’m not letting you go!” He shouted. “I can get us out of this, I just need a second.” He tried to pull her up only to disrupt the ground and nearly send them falling. “I’m sure you have someone at home waiting for you, so do I. That’s why I’m not gonna let you go! Come one, I just got your name, I just properly met you. I’d like to get the chance to know you better.” He grunted as he tried to pull them both to safety.

Aqua was about to protest against his efforts again when she felt droplets fall on her face. She look up to see him crying. “Come on, you’re gonna tell me after all that  _ now _ you choose to give up! Enough people have been lost tonight, I’m not going to let you be another!” 

She gasped as he slipped for a moment but got his grip back. “I know that attack must have left you weak, or else you would have gotten out of this by now. So just let me-” He gasped as he tried to pull them up again, only for more of the ground to give away, leaving both of them dangling over a dark pit. Tensei grunted as he tried to keep them both above. 

Aqua looked down to see swirling darkness at the bottom, the Realm of Darkness slowly encroaching upon the world. Only delayed by her efforts. If she fell, then the world would inevitably fall. If she didn’t it would still fall, there was nothing she could do. What she  _ could _ do though, was spare one of them from falling to the darkness.

She could only hope Eri and Izuku would forgive her.

“Tensei, I’ll be okay.” She assured him, letting go and leaving him desperately grasping her wrist. She was slipping. “Nothing good will come of both of us falling, you can let go.” 

“N-No!”

“Tensei.” She smiled sadly. “I’ll be okay. I promise.”

Tensei lost his grip and screamed as she fell into the darkness below, watching the light from above slowly fade. She felt the darkness drag her down to the place she feared the most. She shuddered violently, now unable to stop her own tears from falling.

“Izuku. Eri. I am so sorry…it looks like I won’t make it back home.”

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


Tensei sobbed as he watched her fall away, a sad but reassuring smile still on her face as she faded from view. He looked up and slowly dragged himself back to solid ground, crawling away from the large chasm. 

He didn’t know how long he sat there, staring at the void until a warm glow drew his eye. He looked up at the still cloudy sky, being lit up by the golden warmth of sunrise. A sunrise she was able to give them, a sunrise Guardian-no  _ Aqua _ couldn’t see.

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


He was in that place again, the one with the glass mural of himself. This time he felt coherent and aware of where he was. Like he actually existed in that place.

He jumped as a hand placed itself on his shoulder, turning around to see his Master. He tried to speak, but no words came out. He could only stand there in shock as she ran a hand through his hair, a sad smile on her face.

“Take care of Eri for me, okay?”

_ What? _

He tried to speak, the words getting caught in his throat as he reached for her. She was disappearing.

_ No! Don’t go! _

She was crying too. Why was she crying, why couldn’t she stay?

_ Please don’t leave me alone! _

“Master!” 

Izuku woke up in tears, screaming for Master Aqua. He panted, feeling tears pour down his face as he tried to get his bearings. He only snapped out of it when he realized he could hear Eri crying from the next room.

He wiped at his eyes and rushed out of his room, hurrying over to Eri’s room and opening the door to see her crying her eyes out. He walked forward wordlessly scooping her up in his arms and made his way downstairs with her. She clung to him tightly wordlessly sobbing as they silently agreed to sit on the couch and wait for her.

Aqua never came back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discord:
> 
> https://discord.gg/yFZPD5K


	7. Grief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not easy being on your own

**Grief**

  
  


His mind was buzzing as he stared at the door, watching the sunlight stream through a small crack. He was faintly aware of someone talking to him, what he was more focused on was the harsh tugs at his shirt. He hesitantly looked down to see Eri’s teary face looking up at him. Her mouth was moving, but Izuku couldn’t make out what she was saying. 

A loud static roared in his ears before he blinked and forced himself to focus on the world around him. He took a shuddering breath as the sound began to filter in again. The few Moogles who woke up were already beginning to worry and voice their concerns to him and the older Moogles. Some were already panicking and crying, scared out of their minds. At that moment Eri’s voice was the loudest of them all.

“-going to do? What’s going to happen now?” Eri asked, clutching to him like a lifeline. No, not  _ like _ right now, he  _ is _ her lifeline. The only one left, the only one who…

He swallowed back the bile that crept up his throat; he couldn’t fall apart. Not here, not right now. Not when Eri needed him, he could fall apart later. Right now, he had a job.

“I’m...we uh…” Izuku muttered, trying to focus on her question. What  _ was _ going to happen now? He didn’t know, there were too many possibilities, too many factors. He didn’t know! 

_ Focus! _

“Right now...we uh…” He was slipping again.

_ Keep it together! _

“Right now we should focus on getting everything situated.” One of the older Moogles, Kogi if Izuku remembered right, leaped onto the couch. “For now we...hey shut up!” They shouted at them all. “For now let’s focus on getting everything situated. We’re all awake, let’s get something to eat and we can discuss how we’re going to move forward.”

Izuku stared at the Moogle before numbly getting to his feet and walking to the kitchen. He still had Eri in his arms, he was scared to let her go. As if the moment he did she would slip away.

“What do you want to eat?” He asked her as he pulled down a box of cereal. 

Eri stared at the box and shrugged, taking it from him so he could grab some bowls. Izuku felt his hands shaking as he placed them down and took the box from her. He almost laughed at the mess he caused trying to pour cereal into the bowls. 

“Milk?” He asked.

Eri shook her head. That was okay, he didn’t want milk either. He didn’t want to eat or drink anything honestly, but he had to.

_ What would Master say if you stopped taking care of yourself? _

Izuku nearly doubled over in pain at the thought, but he didn’t. He couldn’t, he had Eri in his arms and he didn’t want to drop her. He choked on a sob as he set the bowls down on the table. Eri hesitantly let him go so she could sit in the chair beside him, he didn’t say anything as she scooted her chair closer. 

He half-listened to the chaos happening in the kitchen as the other Moogles made their simple breakfasts. Some of them sat on the counter while others left for the living room. Kogi made themselves breakfast and sat down at the table with a few of the other older Moogles.

Izuku could feel their eyes on him, expecting him to say or do something. What could he do? What should he say? He was trying his hardest not to gag on the dry cereal there wasn’t much else he could be asked to do. 

“Kupo?”

Izuku jumped and looked down to see Mogma staring up at him. The young Moogle climbed up a chair and sat on the table, something he would have been scolded for if Aqua were here. Nobody seemed to care for the rules at the moment 

_ Maybe she’s just late, maybe she’ll just walk through that door at any second. She’s human, it happens. Maybe there was a big fight with the Heartless. _

Izuku glanced at the clock.

_ An hour late, she would never be an hour late. She always comes home the minute the sun is rising. She’s not here, that would mean she was either caught or- _

“Kupo!” Izuku looked up to see the Moogles watching him in concern. Eri looked scared as well, she had a hand on his sleeve. How long were they trying to get his attention?

“Izuku?” Eri asked, tightening her grip. 

“I-I’m sorry, must have spaced out.” Izuku said, forcing a calm tone into his voice and a smile on his face. “What did you say?”

_ You don’t get to fall apart. You don’t get to fall apart. Keep it together you’ve got a job to do. _

“We asked if you have any thoughts on moving forward,” Kogi said. “We don’t exactly have a plan for this, since we never thought it’d happen.”

_ Of course you don’t, you shouldn’t have a plan because something like this shouldn’t happen. _

Izuku’s mouth was dry as he tried to form words. “I uh…” 

_ Why me? Why me? Why are you asking me? _

His mind was buzzing again as he tried to think. What did they need? 

“Groceries.” He blurted out. “Do we have money f-for food?” He asked.

“We have a pool of money made up of what we make when selling our wares. I’d say we have enough for two or three grocery runs. We always have some saved up.” Kogi answered.

“What uh…” Izuku looked down at Eri before looking up. “T-the work Eri does, her homeschool. How should we…”

“We can help out with that. Actually, Kupo, speaking of school…” One of the Moogles pointed at the time. Izuku stared at the clock numbly and took a moment to read the time.

“Oh.”

“You should get going Kupo, you don’t wanna be late.” Kogi stood up and walked across the table. 

“I-I don’t...I can stay.” Izuku felt a small hand grab his shirt. “We have to get e-everything all settled down right?” He forced a smile on his face, at this point he didn’t even  _ want _ to go to school. He wouldn’t,  _ couldn’t _ , he could not leave Eri on her own. Even with the Moogles, he didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone. What if the second he left something happened? He couldn’t save them, he couldn’t help them.

He had to stay, he couldn’t leave!

“We should try to keep a modicum of normal. We should try to keep things running smoothly, and that means doing everyday stuff Kupo.” Kogi sat at the edge of the table. “I know it’s hard, but we have to keep calm.”

Izuku shot them a look before looking back at his food. He barely made a dent in it, he wasn’t that hungry anyway. 

_ Normal? Normal is gone! Normal without Master is…There is no normal. She’s gone. She’s gone and now I’m all alone. Eri and I are alone, how are we supposed to- _

“Izuku you’re setting the table on fire!” Eri tugged his shirt and he looked down to see that, indeed, he was starting a small fire.

“Crap!” He doused the flames with a small stream of water. They stared at the scorched spot where his hands were a moment ago. 

“Uh…”

“Why don’t you get ready Kupo?” Kogi patted his shoulder and hopped off the table. “I’ll start getting the others organized.”

Izuku absentmindedly nodded and slowly stood up, he glanced down at Eri before heading up the stairs. He almost tripped over himself as he made his way up the stairs. He gasped and gripped the wall for support, he clung onto it to keep his balance. 

He took a moment to focus on the texture, the rough speckled bumps that could scratch him up if he wasn’t careful. He ran his hands over the bumps before standing up straight and hurrying to his room. He slammed the door shut and changed as quickly as he could, throwing off his pajamas and slipping on his uniform. It was hard to button up his shirt and even harder to tie his tie. 

He was certain he made it too tight, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He threw on his jacket and buttoned it up as best he could. He grabbed his backpack and shoved his books into it, and walked out of his room. Izuku walked down the stairs and wiped at his face, hoping the evidence he was crying was somewhat gone.

Izuku walked into the kitchen to see Eri staring at her Wayfinder, Aqua had given her one too. On the same day that she had given Izuku is. It was a bright red color that transitioned to a yellow near the center. Izuku placed his backpack down and sat beside her, taking out his own Wayfinder as well.

“Are you going to be okay while I go to school?” Izuku asked.

“I think so…” Eri frowned. “I wish you didn’t have to go.”

Izuku wrapped an arm around her and hugged her close. “I know. I wish I didn’t have to go either. I-If you want I can stay.”

Eri looked up at the suggestion, she stared at Izuku before shaking her head. “N-No. It’s okay, I’m okay. I’ll be okay, really. You should go, or you might get in trouble.”

“Are you sure?”

Eri sniffed and nodded quickly. “Y-Yeah. I’m sure, I’ll be okay. You’ll come back though right? You promise?” 

“Of course! I’ll come right back after school. I’ll let you know when I get there, and you can call me whenever you want to. If you need me to, I'll come right back.” Izuku promised.

“Even in the middle of the day?”

“Even in the middle of the day.” He nodded. “I promise.”

Eri wiped at her eyes and hugged Izuku tightly. “P-Please come back!”

“I will.” Izuku hugged her and blinked back tears. “I will, I promise.”

Eri hesitantly let him go and rubbed her eyes. She stood up and followed Izuku as he walked to the door, stopping when he stepped out.

“Be careful.” 

“I will.” He patted her head and began to walk away. He forced himself to not look back, afraid he’d start to cry if he did. As he walked he pulled out his phone, he opened his messages and sent a ‘Good morning’ text to his mother. He couldn’t help but notice it was pretty late, she would usually already have sent one by now. 

He shut that idea down before it could even form, instead focusing on the ache in his chest.

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


“Woah there!” 

Izuku was pulled from the static of his thoughts with a rough tug on his shirt. He yelped in surprise as he was thrown to the ground. He looked up in shock at where he was heading and saw he was about to walk into one of the large chasms in the ground.

“You okay there?” 

He looked up to see a hand being offered to him by an older student. Izuku eyed his uniform, mentally noting it’s one of UA’s before taking his hand and standing up. He looked him up and down, swallowing the numbness before responding.

“W-What?”

The boy stared at him before giving a light laugh. “I asked if you were okay, you seemed pretty out of it and were about to walk right off the edge. Good thing I saw you in time.” 

“Yeah.” Izuku mumbled. He looked around in confusion, he couldn’t recognize the area. Not with the various missing buildings and divides in the ground. It felt like his world had become disgustingly warped.

_ How did I get here? I thought I was heading to school… _

Someone snapped their fingers in his face and he was brought back to reality. He shook his head and looked at the boy who began talking.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You keep spacing out there, did something happen?” He leaned down a bit to look Izuku in the eye. 

“I-I’m okay!” Izuku waved his hands. “I just...I’m kind of lost.” He mumbled. “Having a hard time finding my way around.”

“I don’t blame you, I would probably get a little turned around too if I didn’t live close to UA.” He pointed at Izuku’s uniform. “That’s where you’re heading right?” 

Izuku nodded and his fellow student smiled. “That’s cool, good to see you’re still willing to take the commute despite...everything. Say, what’s your name anyway?” He pulled Izuku away from the dark divide and towards a safer part of the street. 

“Izuku Midoriya.” 

“Nice to meet you Midoriya, the name’s Mirio Togata, a 3rd year. What about you?” The blonde smiled down at Izuku, it was clear he was trying to stave off his own stress. It was fine, Izuku figured, he kept talking to Izuku and that kept him focused. He also seemed nice, which was something he could really use at the moment. 

“This is my first year at UA.” Izuku answered.

“Ah, I figured as much. You kinda have that look to you.” Mirio smiled. “Who’s your homeroom teacher?” 

“Mr. Aizawa.” 

“Oh, I heard about him. I didn’t have him my first year, but I heard he can be pretty rough. He’s also a big fan of expelling students he doesn’t see potential in, or so the rumor goes. I also heard that he expelled an entire class at one point.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” Izuku sighed. “He threatened to expel last place yesterday at the Quirk Apprehension Test.”

Mirio looked at him. “And did he?”

Izuku shuddered and shook his head. “No, he called it something like ‘a logical ruse’.”

Mirio bursted out laughing as they turned down the street, UA was just up ahead. “Man I probably would have fainted back then if I heard that. In fact I probably would have gotten last place and been expelled myself!”

Izuku hummed in response as they stepped through the gates, pulling out his phone and sending a text to Eri. She sent back a ‘Thank you!’ almost immediately. He took a moment to glance at his mother’s messages, only to find that his message was still unread.

_ She might be busy. With all the holes in the ground there are probably a lot of injuries… _

He wasn’t supposed to panic, his mom always told him to think things through and when he did that the problem didn’t seem so scary anymore.

_ But this is scary, I don’t know what’s going on! I don’t know how to fix this,  _ **_how_ ** _ do I fix this? _

“Woah hey there Midoriya, you’re looking kind of pale, and you’re kind of on fire. Are you okay?” 

“What?” 

Izuku looked up and realized that he was indeed on fire. The fire magic surrounding him had small sporadic bursts, almost lashing out at whoever was nearby. He swallowed hard and put a cap on his magic power, he was at school, he didn’t need to be falling apart like this!

Izuku took a deep breath and buried his magic, he didn’t need it lashing out. He could get in trouble, or worse, hurt someone!

“I-I’m okay!” Izuku stammered. “I’m pr-pretty sure it’s just nerves.”

Mirio frowned. “Are you sure? I’m pretty sure Mr. Aizawa wouldn’t mind you going to lay down in the infirmary if you need to.”

Izuku swallowed back the vomit creeping up his throat. “I-I’m sure, I think may-maybe going to class might help.” He turned away and focused on breathing in and out, forcing himself to calm down. “It’s good to be able to focus on something right?” He offered a wobbly smile to the older student.

What he really wanted to do was run back the way he came, run all the way back home and back to Eri and the Moogles. Where he could stay, and where he knew he could keep them safe. That was his job now, instead he was at school pretending as if everything was fine!

“If you’re sure.” Mirio offered a smile back. “Just take it easy okay? This is all a pretty big event, of course it’s going to leave us pretty shaken.”

“...I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for helping me.” Izuku nodded his thanks and hurried away. He felt his legs carry him through the building, slowly making his way up the stairs and through the halls. He couldn’t help but notice how quiet and empty it seemed compared to the first day. Did everyone decide to not come for the day? Or did they-

_ Stop it! _

Izuku froze in place and took another deep breath, he needed to stay calm. Or at least as calm as he could. He looked to the handrailing to see he had begun to ice it over. He pulled his hand away and wrapped his arms around himself before moving again. The less things he touched the less likely he was going to cause damage.

He stood in front of the large door with the 1-A placard above it, a hand hovered over the door to push it open. He noticed ice was beginning to coat his hand.

_ You’re going to suffer from some serious backlash if you keep this up… _

Izuku shook his head and moved to push the door open, only for someone to beat him to it. The door opened to reveal a tired-looking Aizawa staring down at him. He thought he heard a sigh of relief before he spoke.

“Midoriya, how long have you been standing here? Get inside.” He stepped to the side and gestured for him to come in. Izuku stared at him before nodding and walking inside. Much to his surprise, and concern, the class was only half full. He immediately scanned the room for familiar faces. He felt some of the tension leave his chest when he caught sight of Uraraka and Iida, they looked just as happy to see him. 

“Take your seat Midoriya, and then we’re going to go over the recent events.”

Izuku nodded quietly and moved towards his seat. Katsuki scowled at him as he went to sit down.

“Ha? You’re still kicking nerd? I thought you would have bit it on the way here.” He snarled. “If the other extras couldn't even make it here I guess that means they’re a hell of a lot weaker than your ass.”

Izuku flinched and shrank away, he didn’t want to do this. Not today.

“Bakugo, that’s enough.” Aizawa scolded him. “You are not to talk about your classmates like that, not when a catastrophe on this scale has taken place. You by all means are lucky to be alive, sadly it seems not everyone was fortunate enough to share that luck.” 

Katsuki glared at their teacher before huffing and looking away. 

Aizawa waited for a moment before continuing. “As you all know last night a large scale disaster took place, leaving us with the mess we have today. I’m thankful for the students who were able to get here safely despite the chasms all over the city. For now we’re going to be putting a few of our lessons on hold.” 

Izuku looked around to see everyone’s eyes trained on their teacher. Some of them were shaking, while a few others were eerily still. 

“I understand that a lot has taken place, but as your teacher and a faculty member of UA we’re looking for ways to keep our students safe. Thankfully none of the chasms are on UA grounds, so we believe we may have a solution for the students.” He let out a long sigh and rubbed his eyes. “At the moment Cementoss, Power Loader, and a few others are working as fast as they can to set up emergency housing for the students to ensure your safety.”

“Emergency housing?” Ochako asked. “But, wouldn’t you have to get permission from our parents?” 

“We’re already sending out emails and a few faculty members for those who want to meet in person about this. By the end of the day we may be guiding students to their homes to retrieve their belongings.”

Izuku sees a girl, he thinks her name is Tsuyu, raise her hand. “Mr. Aizawa, what if our parents don’t agree to the emergency housing? What would happen then?”

“Then we’d have to respect their wishes and let the students return home. There’s not much we can do there unfortunately. Unless the parent is unavailable or...has succumbed to the disaster. In that case UA would take custody of the student.”

Izuku felt himself go cold at the announcement. Emergency Housing? There was no way he could work around that, if he got dragged into that then he couldn’t go home. He couldn’t take care of Eri, or the Moogles. He’d be abandoning them!

There was no doubt in his mind his mother would want him to go to the housing, if it meant his safety it didn’t matter. 

He couldn’t do that, he couldn’t leave them. He couldn't be dragged away, not when they needed him. He’d be letting his Master down, he’s supposed to take care of them!

“Midoriya, control your Quirk.” Aizawa raised his voice and snapped him from his thoughts. Izuku looked down to see ice covering his desk and creeping up his arms. He shuddered and lifted his hands from the desk.

“I-I’m sorry…” He mumbled.

“Tch, useless Deku.” 

“I understand this is a hard time Midoriya, but you have to keep a handle on your Quirk. That goes for the rest of you too.”

“Yes sir!”

“Now, does anybody have any questions?” He asked, looking over the half-filled classroom. Everyone looked at each other before shaking their heads, allowing him to continue. 

“Alright then, I suppose now we can get started.”

  
  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  
  
  


“This is...even worse than what I expected it to be.” Mirai muttered as he looked over the city. 

“I don’t think even you could have foreseen this level of destruction.” Toshinori sighed. 

The two stood on the roof of a nearby clinic, looking over the destruction of the city. It was one of the times Mirai was glad to return to his apartment for the night, instead of sleeping at his agency. Had he stayed, he would have been lost. 

He had tried hurrying to the agency to get in contact with all his employees after he had woken up to see the large rifts in the ground. On his way over he found the unconscious body of Ingenium, his armor was wrecked and face stained with tears. Yet somehow the only signs of injury were the scrapes on his hands. 

“Do you think he knows what happened?” Toshinori asked.

“I would assume so, I found him near one of the chasms. He seemed distressed for the brief moment he regained consciousness, he was incoherent but I believe he was looking for someone.” Mirai answered. “Who does Ingenium usually patrol nights with?”

“I’m not sure to be honest, I don’t think he has a partner come night time patrols. Then again I don’t know the young man very well.” 

“I see.” 

The two stood in silence, listening to the blaring sirens and watching many heroes leap over the great rifts. Some of them had other heroes or civilians in tow, trying to get them to a safe place or the next area that needed their assistance. 

Toshinori glanced at his old friend, turning his gaze back to the city when he saw him look over. He coughed into his fist before breaking the silence. 

“Are the members of your agency alright? Have you been in contact with Young Togata?” He asked.

Mirai sighed. “Mirio is alright, he messaged me a short while ago. He asked if I was alright, then let me know he got to the school.”

“That’s a relief, and the others?”

“Unfortunately Bubble Girl and Centipeder haven’t gotten back to me. I would rather not assume the worst but…”

“You can’t help it.” Toshinori finished.

Mirai nodded silently before pushing his glasses up out of habit. “All Might.”

“Yes?”

“As your successor, and the only one I saw making it out of this alive. Do you think Mirio will find a way to set this right?”

Toshinori shot him a look of surprise before looking up at the cloudy sky. “I believe that’s a lot of pressure to put on him, but I believe he may find a way. Though hopefully he won’t be alone, this seems like a task far too great for one person.”

Mirai hummed, and was about to respond when the door to the roof opened. The doctor of the clinic peeked out to see the two. 

“Ahem, Ingenium is awake, and I would kindly ask that you two come down from the roof. We don’t want any accidents occurring, our clinic is already slammed as it is.” She huffed. 

“Right, thank you.” Toshinori walked forward as the doctor stepped inside. He paused for a moment to watch Mirai, he stared at the city for a while longer before following his idol. The two were quick to step into one of the clinic’s private rooms where Ingenium was waiting. They opened the door to see him standing near a window, looking at the destruction of the city. 

Mirai cleared his throat. “Ahem, Pro Hero Ingenium?” 

The young man blinked out of his stupor and looked up to see his guests waiting at the door.

“Oh, hey. Come on in, though you’re kinda already inside.” He gave a weak laugh. A heavy silence settled over the room as the door closed. The three looked between each other, prompting the other to speak.

“Are-”

“You wanna know what happened, right? O-Oh, sorry.” Ingenium had interrupted Toshinori.

“No, no, it’s fine. I was just asking if you’re alright. What you must have gone through last night must have been intense.” Toshinori said.

“O-Oh...I’m alright. As much as I can be. Sorry but, who are you again?” He looked over the thin man.

“This is All Might’s secretary, Mr. Yagi.” Mirai answered. “All Might is busy at the moment, he’s trying to help with disaster relief. We’re trying to gather as much information as we can, so we can decide how to proceed.”

Ingenium watched him before a sad look crossed his face. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “It’s...it’s a lot.”

“I understand it may be difficult to talk about.” Toshinori walked over and sat in a chair beside him. “But we need to know what happened, or what  _ may _ have happened. We’re not sure how much you know.”

“I know.” He said. “I know what happened, or at least most of it. I think.” He looked down at his bandaged hands. “Also, please just call me Iida. No need to use my hero name here.”

“Alright then, Iida, could you please recount the events from last night?” Mirai walked over, he chose not to sit down.

Tensei tapped his hands against each other, deciding where to start. 

“I had been on patrol last night, I usually only patrol a certain area but I left that area after I saw a certain someone rushing across rooftops. It was Guardian.”

Tensei didn’t miss the way the man’s eyes narrowed. He knew what kind of reaction he was going to get.

“I followed her for a while until I caught up to her, she was in a hurry. She also has her own turf you know, and she hardly steps out of it unless a really big monster comes by. This time she was heading over to Sir Nighteye’s agency.” He glanced at the man to see a mixture of confusion and irritation on his face.

“She had a question for you actually, she seemed...really scared. Like she knew something bad was coming, and she was going to you to ask about it. She said she needed to know if there was some way to stop it, we were almost to your agency when…” He trailed off.

“When what?” Toshinori pressed.

“It had been quiet all night, way too quiet, neither of us noticed until it was too late. We ended up stopping when we saw a horde of small shadows appearing and all heading in one direction. That’s when we saw it.” He paused, taking a moment to remember the amalgamation of shadows, all bound together in a dense core of malice and darkness. 

“I...I don’t know what to call it, but it was like a tornado of shadows! They were all surrounding a core of them all packed together. That thing caused so much destruction, just  _ one _ . It destroyed buildings, sucked them into darkness, even some of her strongest moves barely slowed it down.” He felt his heart rate rise as he thought about it.

“That thing was a monster, and we barely beat it. It took everything we had and then some, we thought it was the only one at first. Maybe it was just some once off occurrence, and then we saw  _ more _ .” He looked up at the two men to see their horrified expressions. “Hundreds of them falling out of the sky a-and ready to destroy everything, I thought we were done for. Turns out Guardian had one more ace up her sleeve. I don’t know if she had been storing up all that energy, or that’s what she had left but...she took them all out.” 

“Excuse me?” Mirai raised an eyebrow.

“She took them all out in one go with this wave of bright light...one minute they were there and then the next they were just gone.” He looked to the side as he replayed the next scenes in his mind.

“Do you know where Guardian is?” Toshinori asked. “I assume after that she left you in favor of searching for Sir Nighteye?”

He shook his head. “N-No! She wouldn’t do that, she...she didn’t leave me there because she went to go looking for you, she…” Tears burned his eyes as he kept his gaze trained to the floor.

“She was going to fall into one of those giant holes in the ground, and I went to catch her.”

Toshinori’s eyes widened.

Tensei continued. “I caught her, but I was also hanging onto a pole. I was trying to pull us back up to safety and she told me to let go. I didn’t, I couldn’t but then she... _ she _ let go.”

“What?” The two asked in unison

“She let go because...she said it wouldn’t do any good for both of us to f-fall…” He grit his teeth. “I-I didn’t let go but  _ she  _ did, she fell down there and I couldn’t reach her! I just needed a little more time, that’s all I needed. I could have gotten us both out of there, I just needed time!’

Mirai and Toshinori exchanged glances, letting the young man weep. He was frustrated and sad, having lost what they believe was a friend.

“So she’s gone?” Toshinori asked.

Tensei nodded. “I couldn’t save her...I’m sorry.”

Mirai muttered something under his breath that earned a glare from the other man. 

“I understand that this must have been hard to recount.” The blonde stood up. “I apologize for the distress we caused, and thank you for telling us all this. It’ll really help.” He put a hand on his shoulder. “I promise we’ll do everything we can.”

Tensei looked up at him and nodded. “R-Right, glad I could help.”

“Mr. Yagi, we should start heading out.” 

Toshinori sighed and nodded. “Right. Thank you for your time, Ingenium.”

He laughed. “Thought I told you to call me Iida.”

Toshinori nodded before following Mirai out of the room. They were quiet as they walked out of the clinic, thanking the doctor as they left. It wasn’t until they were a good distance away, and sure that they were alone when they began speaking again.

“Guardian is gone.” Toshinori muttered, taking in the realization.

“Yes, she is. I believe that may have put us all in a very vulnerable position, I’m afraid we don’t have much time.”

He nodded. “She’s gone, and she left everything behind…”

Mirai glanced at him and nodded. “Indeed, why?”

Toshinori went quiet, thinking about everything he knew, everything he found out about her. “If she’s gone...then those two are…” He paled.

“What? All Might what are you talking about?” Nighteye asked.

“I have to go.” Toshinori answered curtly. “I’ll talk to you later Nighteye, but I have to go!” He began to rush forward. “I’ll explain it later, I promise!”

He didn’t wait for a response as he slipped into a dark alley and transformed into his muscle form, quick to leap out and begin to make his way across the city.

_ Young Midoriya...Guardian’s daughter, without her here they’re alone. Those two may have only had Guardian, leaving them without any kind of caretaker. I can’t leave them on their own! _

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


“Midoriya, are you alright?”

Izuku looked up to see Iida and Uraraka standing at his desk, he stared at them blankly, trying to remember what they just asked him.

“What?” 

“We asked if you’re alright, you seem a little out of it today. Is everything okay?” Uraraka pulled a chair over and sat beside him. 

“I-I’m okay, just a little shaken up…” He mumbled. “This is all p-pretty chaotic you know?”

She nodded in understanding as Iida spoke up.

“There’s no need to fear Midoriya, the faculty are taking steps to ensure that we’ll be safe. They are moving rather quickly, but that’s to be expected of such a prestigious school. They must always be one step ahead.”

“Exactly, we’re gonna be fine.” Uraraka smiled. “I know what’s happening is pretty scary, but we’re gonna get through this.” 

Iida nodded in agreement, and Izuku sighed.

“Yeah. I-I’m sorry, I’m just a little...nervous I guess. Sorry if I’m worrying you.” He muttered.

“Tch, of course the loser is scared, useless Deku.” Katsuki stood up from his seat as the bell for lunch rang.

“Bakugo, that is no way to treat your classmate!” Iida scolded him. “You should be more kind and considerate, this is a very trying time. Everybody is frightened to some degree, many lives have been lost and even more are injured.”

“Then they’re all just a bunch of weaklings.” He sneered. “Why don’t you go back to babying the nerd like Round Face over there if you’re not gonna accept that.”

“Bakugo, that's mean!” Uraraka scowled. “And what is your problem with him? Izuku hasn’t done anything to you!” 

Katsuki glared at her before huffing and shaking his head. “He’s useless Deku, that’s why. Of course a powerless freak like him is gonna be scared.”

Izuku shot a glance towards Katsuki, he opened his mouth to protest, but the sound of a small explosion made him shut his mouth. The bully grinned and walked out of the classroom, muttering something about him knowing his place.

“Ugh, sometimes he just makes my blood boil!” Uraraka huffed. “Anyway, why don’t we grab lunch too? You look a little pale and I think eating might help.”

“Y-Yeah, sure.” Izuku mumbled.

“Midoriya, the desk!”

Izuku looked down and lifted his hands, stopping the ice from spreading. He made a noise of frustration before gripping the sleeves of his outfit. He felt his magic writhing inside of him, trying to respond to the overwhelming emotions he can barely keep a lid on.

He muttered out an apology and grabbed his backpack before following them out of the classroom. He let them take the lead and guide him towards the cafeteria as he tried to stay somewhat aware.

He hadn’t paid any attention to the lesson, his notebook was barren with a few measly scribbles. He wanted to berate himself, tell himself he should know better and should have paid attention, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Even if he had been able to focus on the lesson for just a moment, his thoughts would have turned back to Eri and the Moogles. 

He didn’t like the idea of the dorms, not when they needed him. He would hope that his mother would say no, but that was unlikely. If it was going to keep him safe she’d be all for it, then again there was the issue with getting in contact with her. He pulled out his phone and glanced at his messages, the text to his mom was still unread.

_ The hospital must be slammed, makes sense. She probably doesn’t have time to look at her phone… _

Izuku frowned to himself and checked for any messages from Eri, there was nothing. He shot her a quick text to ask if she was okay and how she was doing. She’d probably respond in a minute or two, unless she was taking a nap. 

_ How am I gonna fix this? I need to stay with Eri and the Moogles, but I don’t think UA or my mom are going to give me a choice? _

The school had high security, that meant trying to escape wouldn’t do him any good. The thought of telling someone, getting help, crossed his mind. He quickly pushed that thought away. Eri would be taken away, the Moogles would be stranded, Izuku would be in trouble for working with a vigilante.

There was no winning, but he was going to make it work. He had to. He didn’t have any other choice.

Izuku grunted as he bumped into Iida.

“Midoriya, pay attention.” Iida looked over his shoulder. “You should watch where you’re going, it’s good that you bumped into me instead of a wall.” 

“R-Right! Sorry…” Izuku pocketed his phone and followed them into the lunchroom. He numbly listened to Iida and Uraraka chat as he grabbed a tray of food. He couldn’t remember what ordered, but he’d try to eat it anyway. 

His Master wouldn’t want him to skip meals. 

He gripped the tray tightly, feeling a few sparks shock his hands. He gasped and forced his power down, he did  _ not _ need to be using one of the most dangerous elements at his disposal. He had to get it together! It felt difficult though, with the rising pressure in his chest that left him with little to no breath. It felt like his throat was clogged and he could barely breathe, the air he took in never reached his lungs. 

_ It’ll pass, it’ll pass. Just focus on something else, you’re fine. Don’t fall apart. _

“Right Izuku?” 

“What?” He looked up to see his friends giving him worried glances.

“Did you space out again?” Uraraka asked. “I said that everything is gonna be fine, the heroes are gonna figure this out.”

Izuku stared at her, he could see it. She was stressed too, trying to cling onto something, anything that could bring reassurance.The slight shaking of her shoulders, how tightly she was gripping her tray. Just like the rest of them, she wanted to hope that everything would be okay.

Izuku nodded as they sat down. “Y-Yeah, the heroes are doing their best to keep everything contained. They’re trained to act quickly so I’m sure everything is being handled.” He said before taking a bite of his rice. He realized that’s all he got, that was fine. He didn’t think he could handle anything too heavy. 

Iida nodded. “I’m glad that you both hold such confidence in the heroes.” He looked out the window. “I’m sure my brother is out there as well, offering any aid he can.”

Izuku nodded, taking another bite.

“You know, with all this stuff that’s happening I’m sure they’re evening getting the help of Guardian. There’s no way this isn’t tied to those monsters.”

At the mention of her name Izuku began to choke on his food.

Izuku coughed and tried to clear his throat. He gratefully took a glass of water Uraraka handed him and took a drink. Sighing once he was okay again, he let out a few small coughs while his friends fretted over him. 

“Midoriya are you alright?” Iida asked. 

“I-I’m fine.” He coughed. “It happens, it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” Uraraka moved over to sit beside him. “Izuku, you’ve been really off today. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Izuku flinched when he felt her hand rest on his shoulder, and Iida’s on his back. It was so nice and welcoming, warm and kind. Even though he knew they meant no harm, they only wanted to help- he couldn’t help but feel like he was in danger. If they knew about him and Master Aqua would they be so quick to comfort him? If they knew she was gone would they still be confident in everything being okay? If they knew she trained him, would they end up depending on him fixing everything? Would they even be his friends anymore? Since she wasn’t there would he have to go out and do her job? Could he even do that? Would he even survive?

He didn’t know, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. He wanted to see his Master, hear her tell him that he was overthinking things. That it was going to be okay.

_But it’s_ ** _not_** _going to be okay!_

Izuku grit his teeth as hot tears began to build in his eyes, blurring his vision. He let out a choked sob and stood up, grasping at his chest as the ache grew worse. 

“I-I’ll be right back.” He whispered.

“What?”

Before they could question it further, Izuku shoved past Iida and ran out of the cafeteria. He sprinted down the hall, keeping his head down until he crashed into someone. He heard a few words of concern, but brushed them off before running again. Izuku ran until he was sure he found an empty hallway. From there he barreled into the nearest bathroom and threw himself in a stall, slamming the door shut and locking it. 

He leaned against the door before slowly sinking to the floor and beginning to sob. He tried to keep himself quiet, but couldn’t help the loud gasps and pitiful cries. He tugged at his hair as he listened to his cries echo off the bathroom walls. 

He took in one shaky breath after another, his chest painfully tight. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe, he was dying! 

Izuku clawed at his tie and struggled to take it off. He was sure he was only making it tighter with his struggles, as he felt his throat close up more. There was a loud bang as he threw himself against the stall and continued his fight. An intense chill raced through his body as pulled on his tie, and scratched at his neck, spreading through the entire room. 

He continued to scratch and pull at his neck, hard ice coating his neck and further cutting off his air. He tried to switch to fire, only to have pain racing through him at the attempt. 

He gasped when he heard the door to the bathroom slam open, and heard someone running in. He held his breath and tried to quiet the sobs and make himself smaller, he didn’t want to be found. He wasn’t supposed to be falling apart, yet here he was. Unable to keep it together for a day.

“Hello? First year are you in here?”

He looked up at the familiar voice, his panic pausing for a moment.

“You ran off kind of suddenly, are you sure you’re okay? If you need help you can let someone know, I can get Mr. Aizawa if you can’t deactivate your Quirk.” He offered.

Izuku continued his fight with his tie as he heard footsteps approach the stall he was in. He didn’t see the face that poked through the door to see him struggling. Forced to take shallow breaths as he slowly suffocated.

There was a moment of silence before Izuku resumed his struggles, not hearing the click of the stall unlocking. He didn’t realize someone was with him until a pair of hands removed his own hands from his throat. 

“Hey, stop that, you’re hurting yourself!” A soft but stern voice cut through his thoughts. “Your tie is too tight, right? You’re only making it worse, here.” He felt him undo the tie, and it felt a little easier to breathe. Izuku took in what he thought were deep breaths, but were still quick and shallow.

Izuku heard the third year, Togata, that’s right his name was Togata, speaking but couldn’t make out many of the words. He was looking down at him, clearly trying to get his attention. Izuku tried his best to focus on his words, to calm down.

“...get you to the infirmary. You might give yourself frostbite.” 

Izuku made a confused noise before taking a look around the room, shocked to see that it was covered in ice. A few spikes poked out from the walls, there was a sink that had water frozen while it had been running. He looked down at himself and felt the thick frost that covered his body, his hands and face had the worst of it.

He nearly fell over once he felt how much magic energy he had used in his episode. Togata kept him from falling, he glanced over and saw his arms were covered in ice too.

“O-Oh, I’m sorry…” Izuku apologized as Togata guided him over to the door. 

“What, this? It’s fine, I’ve gotten a lot worse from training exercises, so don’t worry about that. What about you, you a little better now?”

Izuku refused to look him in the eye when he answered, instead staring at his hands. “T-the backlash is pr-pretty severe...I didn’t know I was using it.” He shivered.

The third year nodded and began to take him down the hall, glad the first year wasn’t questioning where they were going yet “That’s fine, like I said no big deal. You’re gonna be alright, we just need to get you warmed up.”

“I-I can warm myself up.” Izuku looked up. He held out his hands and produced a weak flame, hissing at the pain as his hands began to thaw.

“I wouldn’t do that, you using the ice aspect of your powers seemed to take a lot out of you.” Togata put his hands down. “Plus I don’t think you need to be setting the hallways on fire for fifteen minutes of flame.” He grinned.

Izuku paused before giving him a look, he didn’t know whether to feel insulted or ashamed of the joke. Even Togata stopped before starting to laugh. “Sorry! That was a pretty bad pun huh? Eh, I’ll do better next time.” 

_ He’s trying to make a joke? Now? _

“Anyway, I was surprised to run into you again first-year, it was Midoriya right?”

Izuku nodded.

“Well, I was surprised to run into you, especially considering you should probably be in the cafeteria. You didn’t answer me when you crashed into me in the halls, and that made me really worried. Also considering you left a trail of ice where you ran.” He hummed. “Wasn’t too hard to find you.”

Izuku blushed and covered his face. “I am s-so sorry!”

“It’s fine, as a third year I can promise you there have been  _ way _ worse outcomes with Quirk Accidents. I would say this is more of a minor one.” He looked over to Izuku, hoping to have made him feel somewhat better. Only to see the same ashamed expression from before.

Togata frowned and looked forward, keeping a hand on Izuku’s back to help guide him. “You know. I think I should have taken you to the infirmary when we got here. Laying down might have been a good idea, and considering it’s quiet in there that probably would have helped.”

“N-No!” Izuku shook his head. “It’s fine! Really! I-I was just thinking and then my thought got out of hand and…”

Izuku didn’t have to look at his guide to know he was frowning. 

“If you need to talk to someone Midoriya, Hound Dog is a pretty good counselor. I’m sure he’d be more than willing to listen. What we’re going through is admittedly pretty scary, but it doesn’t mean we have to bottle up all our worries you know?”

_ Except you do when you’re connected to a criminal… _

“Hm?”

_ Crap I said that outloud! _

“N-Nothing!” Izuku waved his arms around. “Just ignore me! I can get to the infirmary from here, don’t worry!” He tried to dash forward, only to feel the world tilt as what little air was in his lungs was taken away. He saw the floor race up to meet him, only for him to stop midfall. Izuku looked up to see Togata had caught him.

“Easy now, I don’t think you’re in much shape to be running off.” He smiled. “It might be better to take it nice and slow.”

Izuku grumbled in agreement and righted himself.

They continued in silence, Izuku put a little distance between himself and Togata. He had to admit he was nice, and he was glad he stepped in to stop his panic attack. Regardless, he couldn’t help but feel wary of him.

_ Okay, now you’re being ridiculous _ .

He scratched at his face, he knew that. But he was distrustful of everyone, especially now when he was teetering on the edge. Should he slip up, or raise any suspicion, it’s Eri and the Moogles who are at stake; and it’s his Master he’s let down.

_ She’d know you’re trying your best. _

His best wasn’t good enough! He was pathetic! One day without her and he was already falling apart, he already caused property damage because he couldn’t keep himself together. 

He gripped his sleeve, feeling heat beginning to build up. He was going to ruin his uniform if he didn’t stop. 

**“According to the Prime Minister, this event is, unfortunately, not limited to Japan but is indeed a global event.”**

Izuku stopped in his tracks and looked to the source of the noise. They were in front of a teacher’s lounge, the door mostly open. Some of the faculty were gathered around the television, watching with bated breath. 

**“According to the reports this morning, there are over an estimate of 100,000 casualties and even more injuries within this prefecture alone.”**

A map of the Prefecture appeared on the screen. Izuku’s eyes widened when he saw a certain part highlighted in red. A zone that had disappeared. He refused to believe it.

“Midoriya…” Togata tried to pull him away, but Izuku was rooted in place. 

**“There is a struggle to treat all injured citizens with the severe lack of medical supplies and designated treatment areas.”**

“The hospitals are slammed…” Izuku muttered. “The hospitals are slammed.” He gripped the hem of his jacket, eyes trained on the screen. “That’s why she’s not answering...

**“This morning many areas were swallowed up by these strange chasms, the areas are not limited to housing but to places of business as well. Unfortunately for the injured…”**

“Don’t say it, don’t say it.” He clenched his phone tightly in one hand. 

**“This morning the Mustafu City Hospital disappeared as well, leaving many without medical assistance, and raising the casualty rates even higher.”**

Izuku watched as they pulled up a picture of where the hospital should have been, but instead all that was left was a dark crater. It switched to camera footage shot from a helicopter, then changed again to amateur footage of the site. Again and again it changed to show the exact same thing. A desolate area with no chance of any survivors.

_ This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening! _

Hot tears began to pour down his face, feeling like scorching lava on his icy skin. His hands shook violently and he dropped the phone, making a loud clatter. He couldn’t hear the words of the TV anymore as something in him  _ broke _ .

“Midoriya!” 

The teachers looked up to see one of Aizawa’s students beginning to catch fire. Steam rolled off him in waves, melting the thick ice coating him. Behind him was a third year they all recognized, trying to pull him out of his breakdown. Small flames surrounded him as he sank to his knees, harsh sobs wracking his body as he struggled to hold back his cries. 

Togata drew his hands back when the heat became too intense. He looked on in dismay, as he could only watch the kid spiral out of control. 

“Aizawa!” One of them yelled.

“On it.” 

The man stepped towards Izuku and activated his Quirk, eyes flashing red as his hair began to float. Much to his surprise the flames didn’t die out but instead continued to build and rage harder. Aizawa stared at Izuku before deactivating his Quirk and trying again. Still no result.

“Aizawa!”

“My Quirk isn’t working on him!” Aizawa shouted. “Midoriya, you need to calm down.” He stepped forward hesitantly, watching the flames rising.

“What do you mean your Quirk isn’t working on him?” Cementoss stood up, ready to contain him if needed. “Where’s Midnight,” he asked. “We need to sedate the boy.”

“She’s probably in the cafeteria.” Snipe muttered as he pulled out his phone.

“I mean my Quirk isn’t working on him!” He glared at Cementoss as he dared another step closer. “Midoriya, I know you can hear me. You need to calm down before you hurt someone.” He raised his voice.

“Midnight is on her way.” Snipe confirmed.

“Good.”

Mirio watched as the homeroom teacher tried to calm his student. Much to his shock, the cancelling Quirk did nothing to help. He frowned to himself and moved forward, ignoring the shouts from the other teachers.

He couldn’t help but feel responsible, he knew his classmate wasn’t doing well in the first place. Instead of telling someone or taking him to the infirmary he just let him go. 

Mirio grit his teeth as he partially activated Permeation, if he could avoid burning he would. He reached a hand forward and placed it on Izuku’s back. He had most of his arm activated, save for his hand. 

“Hey, Midoriya.” He raised his voice. “It’s okay, you’re okay.”

“Togata get away from him, you’re going to hurt yourself!”

Mirio ignored them with a sigh, he braced himself as he pulled Izuku back and wrapped his arms around him. The flames faltered for a moment. Mirio was actually grateful for the ice on his arms now.

“I don’t know what you saw on there that’s shaken you up pretty badly, but you’re gonna be okay.” He grit his teeth as he felt the fire burn his arms and chest. “If you calm down we can talk this out, and we can help you. We want to help.” 

He smiled as he felt the temperature go down, the flames were getting smaller. Izuku was still sobbing, he had reached up to grab Mirio’s arm at some point. 

“It’s working.” Aizawa muttered. 

“I know it feels like the world is ending, but it’s not. You’re gonna be okay and we’re going to get through this. But you need to calm down first, okay?” 

Izuku’s hand clenched tighter in response, he was starting to come back. 

Mirio sighed in relief as the rest of the flames began to disappear. Their uniforms could be in better shape, but it wasn’t a big deal. Not to Mirio at least.

Aizawa stared at them before hurting forward and kneeling in front of them.

“Are you here Midoriya?” He asked. “Can you hear me?”

A strained whimper escaped Izuku in response.

He sighed and looked up as Midnight ran over. “I got the call, what happened?”

Aizawa sighed as he looked up at her. “Midoriya was having a panic attack, but Togata already handled it. Despite us telling him to stay away.”

Mirio smiled before looking at Izuku. “You think you can walk Midoriya?” He asked, giving him a light shake. When he didn’t get a response he shook him again. “Midoriya?”

Aizawa shook his head, “He’s passed out, but it looks like he’ll be fine. Come on, let’s get to the infirmary.” 

He took the unconscious Izuku from his arms and walked down the hall at a fast pace. He glanced down at his student and sighed.

“You and I need to have a talk.”

  
  
  


**-.-**

  
  


“Young Togata, may I have a word with you?”

“Hm?” The young man turned around from his group of friends. His arms were wrapped in bandages from earlier in the day, he insisted to not be healed completely by Recovery Girl in favor of attending the rest of his classes.

All Might approached the group in his civilian attire.

Nejire looked up in surprise.

“Woah, All Might? When did you get here?”

“Just right now!” He laughed. “Apologies I couldn’t be here earlier, I was helping with disaster relief. Now, Young Togata, mind stepping into one of the Teacher’s Lounges with me?”

“Oh, of course sir!” He started walking forward, the turned to wave at the others. “See you guys later!”

“Bye Mirio, see you later…” Amajiki waved back.

“See you in a little bit!” Nejire waved excitedly before resuming her conversation with 

Amajiki. Taking wild guesses about what All Might could possibly want with their friend. 

All Might and Mirio hurried to an empty lounge and shut the door before All Might deflated with a puff of smoke. Mirio gave him a look of concern as his second mentor coughed up some blood.

“Woah, sir are you okay?” Mirio asked, watching him sit on a couch and take a deep breath. “Did you already use up your time for the day?” 

“N-No, I’m fine. Just a little tired, I’ve been working with Nighteye since the morning. We’ve been trying to figure what happened, and so far it isn’t looking good.” He looked up with a frown, concern etched onto his features.

“We’ve found out a few things, and so far it only serves to make the situation worse.”

Mirio twitched, opening his mouth to ask when All Might gestured for him to sit down. He paused before doing so, unsure where this was going.

“Young Togata, mind if I ask how much you know about Guardian?”

“Huh? Guardian, the vigilante?” Mirio put a hand on his chin. “I know that Sir really doesn’t like her, and that she usually comes out at night to fight the monsters...the monsters that probably caused this. That’s all I can really say about her, I appreciate what she does and that she’s made the streets safer. Why?” Mirio gasped and leaned forward. “Is Sir going to be working on her with this? I can only imagine how upset that might be making him.”

All Might stared at him before shaking his head. “N-No, no we won’t be working with her on this case.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Even if we wanted to, I’m afraid we can’t contact her.”

Mirio’s heart sank, there was no way…

“Unfortunately, we found out that she was among the victims that disappeared last night. Though before she fell into one of the chasms, she took out as many of the monsters she could. She’s brought us some time, time that we’re running out of…”

Mirio grit his teeth, keeping a smile on his face. The grim reminder that’s been playing in his mind echoing again and again. He was going to be the only survivor. It was going to be up to him to somehow  _ fix _ this. 

He was going to lose his family, his friends. The weight of the world was resting on his shoulders.

“Sir, if I may, why are you telling me this?” Mirio asked.

All Might paused, taking a moment to look at his successor. The tension in his shoulders, the fake smile that hid overwhelming fear behind it. He knew that look all too well.

“Well, for one I want to keep you in the loop. You deserve to know these things, especially since….”

“Yeah.” Mirio nodded. “I know.”

“I also wanted to tell you, because I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Sir?”

“There’s someone I want you to keep an eye on. A fellow student, you probably haven’t met him. He’s alone right now, and I’m afraid that something might go wrong if he’s left alone for too long.”

Mirio raised an eyebrow. “You want me to keep an eye on someone? Who?”

All Might sighed and scratched at his face. “There’s a young man, named Izuku Midoriya. There’s a-”

“Wait Midoriya?” 

All Might looked up. “Do you know him?”

“Yes sir! I met him earlier today, I stopped him from falling in one of the pits. He seemed pretty off, in all honesty I should have kept an eye on him. He kind of lost it earlier and froze the bathroom, then set the hallway on fire. He wasn’t doing too good, but I’m hoping he’s okay now. He ended up passing out…”

All Might watched him before sighing. “So you’ve already met him.”

Mirio nodded. “Yeah, he seems like a good person. Why would you want me to keep an eye on him? Is there something wrong with him?” Mirio paused, letting the gears in his mind turn. “Does it...does it have anything to do with Guardian disappearing?”

His mentor stiffened up before coughing into his hand. “I’d...call it...paying back a favor.”

“I’m sorry?”

All Might stared at the ground before getting to his feet and turning away.

“Guardian has done a lot for people, she’s saved us again and again. She’s also helped me a few times. The least I can do is...is help her.”

Mirio stared at All Might, opening and closing his mouth before shaking his head.

“You just want me to keep an eye on him? That’s it?”

“Please. Please make sure he doesn’t do anything reckless, at least within these walls.” He slowly turned towards Mirio.

Mirio watched him. “Okay, yeah. Sure, I’d call Midoriya my friend. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Thank you…”

“Just one more thing All Might sir, is uh...is Midoriya somehow related to Guardian?” He asked.

All Might didn’t answer him, instead he looked away. That was all the answer he needed. 

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


Izuku groaned as he slowly came to, he felt exhausted and overheated. He slowly opened his eyes to see a white ceiling. The smell of antiseptic invaded his senses and made him flinch. He never really liked the smell.

“Oh, are you awake now dear?”

Izuku looked to the side to see Recovery Girl standing at his bedside.

“What?” He asked, groaning as he sat up. “What happened?” He asked.

“You lost control of your Quirk earlier, but one of the students was able to calm you down.” She handed him a water bottle and sat in a chair.

Izuku stared at her, processing her words before everything slammed back into him.

“Oh...Oh! Oh no, I-I didn’t hurt anyone did I?” He asked. “I didn’t mean for that to happen, I’m sorry! I thought I could-”

“It’s alright dear, only one person was injured but that was minor. The young man was allowed to leave a little while ago.”

Izuku tried to remember who had grabbed him, he somewhat recognized his voice, but it had sounded muffled and warped. He wrapped his arms around himself as he tried to remember. For a moment he felt safe, just a moment.

But that safety was gone now, and he was back with cruel reality. His Master was gone and...so was his mom. 

He felt tears burn his eyes as he thought about it.

His mom was gone, swallowed up by the darkness. Along with hundreds of thousands of others, he was alone. He was all alone, there was nobody there who could help him now! Not without getting himself in trouble.

Izuku took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. “Excuse me ma’am, but what time is it?” He asked.

“School just ended.” 

“What?” Izuku shouted. “I’ve been out for hours? No, oh no, I gotta go!” He threw his legs over the bed and stood up. He wobbled for a moment before hurrying towards the door. He figured his backpack was somewhere safe, he could get it later. What was most important now was getting out of there.

“Now hold on young man!” Recovery Girl protested and tried to stop him. “You can’t leave just yet, Eraser Head needs to talk to you.”

“I can talk to him later, I-I’m sorry but I really need to go!” He shouted over his shoulder. He threw open the door and tried to run out, only to crash into none other than his homeroom teacher. 

“Midoriya…”

Izuku gasped and looked up, backing away as the teacher walked in. He couldn’t help but shrink under Aizawa’s gaze as the man looked him up and down.

“About time you’re awake Problem Child.”

_ Problem Child?! _

“Hi Mr. Aizawa…” He mumbled. “I-I’m...I’m sorry for any trouble I might have caused. I didn’t mean to, honest! M-My powers just...a-and I tried to-” He flinched as a few sparks of lightning appeared. He clenched his fists and made it stop.

Aizawa raised a hand to stop him, he waited for a moment before letting out a long sigh. He watched Izuku, seeing how he fidgeted and curled in on himself. He was scared, he was trying to hide.

“You’re not in trouble Midoriya.” He grumbled. “But the apology is appreciated. That isn’t quite what I wanted to talk about.”

Izuku peeked up.

“I have a few concerns about your Quirk.”

_ Oh crap!  _

“Y-Yes sir?”

“While you were breaking down I attempted to use my Quirk on you, so we could calm you down. Unfortunately, it turns out my Erasure doesn’t work on your powers.” 

Izuku paled and looked down, his mind racing. How was he going to lie himself out of this one? Could he? Should he just come clean?

_ No! Then you run the risk of losing Eri and the Moogles! _

“I-I uh…” Izuku swallowed hard. “I’m n-not sure why either.”

He huffed and ran a hand through his hair, still glaring at Izuku. “That’s something that we can discuss later. I have a running theory but that’s not important right now. What  _ is _ important is your reaction to what was on the news. On the television, what happened there?” 

Izuku went pale and looked down. “I uh...it’s…” He fumbled with his hands. “O-Overwhelming, I guess. Just...it’s scary you know. We’re running out of options if something goes wrong, and it seems like everything is going wrong. T-There’s no way to fix it, it’ll probably never get fixed and I have no idea what’s gonna happen from here. I don’t know how to fix it, or if anybody can fix it, I mean how do we handle something like this when it’s probably been building for a few years and-

“Midoriya!” Aizawa cut him off as soon as he started turning blue. “It’s fine, I understand. This is overwhelming and frightening, especially to someone as young as yourself. But panicking isn’t going to get us anywhere, I’m assuming that the hospital was a breaking point in something that’s been building for a while.”

Izuku tugged at his hair. “I-I’m sorry sir…”

Aizawa sighed and rubbed his eyes. “We have counselors, Midoriya, and this is a catastrophe that’s affected us in many ways. You shouldn’t be expected to keep all this to yourself, that’s irrational, and leads to what happened earlier today. If you need help you come to the teachers understand? And listen to me when I say this, you’re a child, it’s not your job to fix this. You’re not a hero Midoriya, so don’t think there’s anything you can do for this. Put that thought out of your head, right now.”

Izuku hesitantly looked up before nodding. “Y-Yes sir…”

His teacher sighed and pointed at a bag sitting on a chair nearby. “Your friends dropped this off after they found out. I recommend you hurry home, we can finish discussing this later.”

Izuku grabbed his bag. “Finish?”

“It’s about your Quirk not reacting to mine, like I said we can finish the discussion later. Go home before it gets dark out.”

Izuku stared at him, waiting for something else to be said. When Aizawa nodded Izuku hurried out of the room and towards the exits. 

Recovery Girl waited until he was out of earshot before looking up at Shouta.

“He’s lying.”

“I know.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I have his address, and we haven’t gotten any response from his mother via email. So I should probably stop by.”

Recovery Girl stared at him before sighing. “Please don’t do anything reckless.”

  
  


**-.-**

  
  
  


He made it home hours ago, once he came home that was when the real work began. Eri’s homework needed grading, some of the Moogles had a few problems. He had to change a couple of lightbulbs and fixed a door. 

Then there was the worry of dinner, Izuku had no idea what to make for everyone or if they even had enough. Izuku had been willing to skip dinner if it meant everyone else could eat, it wouldn’t have been a problem. He hadn’t been feeling too hungry anyway.

Then someone, he has no idea who, but someone banged on the metal they kept in front of the entrance to the building. 

It scared the daylights out of everyone, and out of fear Izuku had yelled at everyone to get upstairs. If it was Heartless then only he could deal with them, even though his magic might not have been enough…

He hesitantly made his way over to their makeshift door and pushed the metal out of the way, ready to attack if necessary. Much to his surprise the area was empty, there was nothing there save for a bunch of bags full of takeout food. He had to make a few trips before covering the entrance back up and giving the all clear. 

There had been a note attached to one of the bags. Hurriedly scribbled on there it read-

_ ‘Someone’s looking out for you’ _

In all honesty it scared him half to death, knowing that someone knew where they were and most likely who he was. 

Even as he ate dinner, there was more than enough for everyone, the thought still bothered him. Someone knew, but for the time being it looked like they were willing to keep quiet about it. His question,  _ who _ knew, and  _ why _ ?

Izuku stared at the ceiling as he thought about it, trying to make sense of it. He felt his leg twitch, itching to move around, but he kept himself still. He had already checked six times now, the door was barricaded, everyone was asleep, everyone was  _ fine _ . 

_ One person isn’t fine _ .

Izuku grimaced and turned on his side, hugging a pillow for some kind of comfort. He mentally scolded himself as he felt tears sting his eyes. 

He didn’t need to be crying right now, that was the last thing everyone needed. He should be figuring out who knew about them, and what they may want. 

Izuku sniffed and rubbed at his eyes, he had to focus. He paused for a moment when he realized he almost set the pillow on fire. He took a deep breath and went back to thinking, pushing his sadness down. He could deal with those feelings later.

He tried to go back to thinking about who could have known, the person who’s apparently looking out for them. 

_ Maybe it’s Ingenium, they were always quick to partner up. All Might? No, he wants to catch her too, how would he even know about us? Eraserhead?! He couldn’t cancel out my magic...does it suspect it? Oh no, I messed up! _

Before he could spiral into a new kind of panic the door to his room opened, and he sat up in surprise. There in the doorway was Eri, crying quietly as she made her way over to him.

Izuku relaxed and got up, meeting her halfway and kneeling down to her height. He tucked her in hours ago, but it looked like she hadn’t gotten any rest. 

“Eri? Is everything okay?”

“I-I can’t...I can’t sleep.” She rubbed her eyes. “I’m trying but…”

Izuku nodded and picked her up, hugging her close. “It’s okay, I’m having trouble sleeping too.” He mumbled. 

Eri stared at him before nodding and resting her head on his shoulder. She felt safe again, she missed Aqua and she knew Izuku was trying his best. She only wished she could tell him Aqua would be proud that he’s trying his best, Eri knew she’d feel that way, but she couldn’t say something like that without bursting into tears.

So for now, she’d settle for hugging him, and hoping he felt every ounce of love and thankfulness she had towards him. Hoping that could somehow ease the burden. 

“I miss her…” Eri murmured, looking up at the glow in the dark stickers adorning Izuku’s room. Some of them were of heroes, others were of stars varying in size. 

“I miss her too.” Izuku nodded as he wrapped the blanket around them. “I miss her a lot.”

Eri welcomed the warmth and yawned. Feeling safe once again.

“Izuku?” She mumbled.

“Yeah?

“Thank you.” 

“Of course.”

“Izuku?”

“Yeah Eri?”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Eri.”


	8. When it Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fall

**When it Falls**

  
  
  


“Izuku?”

Izuku took out an earphone and looked down at Eri. “Hey, is everything okay?”

She nodded. “Can I have some more pancakes?” 

“Of course!”

Izuku mumbled to himself as he put more batter into the pan. He couldn’t sleep, and decided the best thing to do was make pancakes. It was fine, everyone was about to wake up anyway. He was just planning ahead.

It had been a day since the initial catastrophe, and so far everything had only gotten worse. More people were killed by the creatures, or disappeared overnight without a trace. The chasms had gotten bigger as well, swallowing up more buildings and leaving people with less shelter. 

It was a nightmare.

He clenched his fists as he watched the batter cook. Everything was falling apart so fast it made his head spin. People were out there dying, helpless against the Heartless. Yet here he was, making pancakes. Hiding in his own home like a coward. 

“Izuku, you’re on fire again…” 

Izuku looked up then glanced down at his arms. He took a deep breath and pulled his magic back. Once they were gone Izuku flipped the pancake and leaned against the counter.

“Are you okay?” Eri asked, standing beside him and taking his hand. “You look really tired.”

Izuku laughed lightly and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. But you look tired too Eri, are you sure you got enough sleep?” 

She nodded and leaned against him.

“She can always take a nap, those never hurt you know.” Mogma passed them by to put his dishes in the sink before looking at Izuku. “You could use one too Kupo, you look exhausted.”

Izuku was well aware of the bags beneath his eyes, though he’d rather not have them pointed out. 

“I’ve got school Mogma, I can’t exactly go back to sleep.”

“Oh, but you could. You could go right back to sleep and not worry about anything.” They said as they walked past them.

“And that is what we call bad advice.” Kogi shook their head and walked away. “Don’t take it!”

Izuku rolled his eyes and served Eri, before turning to his own plate and eating what he could. He couldn’t keep a lot of food down, but he supposed something was better than nothing. 

_ Master would want you to take care of yourself… _

Izuku gripped the fork tightly, scowling at himself when he felt ice begin to creep over his hand. 

_ Would she even approve of how I’m handling everything? Yesterday was a disaster! You couldn’t even keep it together for a day. You’re an embarrassment. _

Thoughts of Master Aqua plagued him through the night, part of the reason he got up so early. It terrified him to think about it, whether she was alive and struggling to survive through what else might be in the darkness. Or if she’s…

He slapped himself and forced down the rest of his food. He didn’t need to be thinking like that. It was fine, everything was fine. His Master was still out there somewhere, she’s still fighting against the darkness, she’s doing everything she can. She’s still alive, he refuses to believe otherwise.

“You going to get ready, Kupo?”

“Yeah, still gotta keep up appearances and all that.” He muttered, putting his dishes in the sink. He’d try to get to that when he got home after school, unless someone else took care of it. Which they might. 

He pat Eri on the head before hurrying upstairs. He greeted a few Moogles as he headed up, letting them know there were pancakes in the microwave. They thanked him as he passed.

Izuku went into his room and shut the door, then hurriedly put on his uniform. It wasn’t as straighted as he’d like it to be, but he was more concerned with getting the tie on. No matter what he tried it would always end up bunched up. It was frustrating. He even looked up a tutorial.

He was brought back to the moment where his Master tried to fix his tie. How she failed just as badly. It was something they were going to look into, they were supposed to figure it out together. Maybe if he had asked his mom she could have shown him, she probably knew how. He had faint memories of his mother lightly scolding the faceless stranger that was his father, how she’d pull him aside and fix his tie. Sometimes laughing at his own attempts. He remembered once how he promised to give him extra dessert that night if he distracted his mom long enough so he could slip away.

Izuku blinked and felt a few tears run down his face. He sniffed and wiped them away.

_ No! It’s too early for this. You can’t fall apart now, you already did! Keep it together. _

He took a deep breath and shook his head. He was fine, he was perfectly  _ fine _ . He didn’t get to be sad and weepy when everyone else needed to be upset.

It was just another day. He was fine.

Izuku pressed a hand to his chest where he felt the Wayfinder resting. He was okay.

He took a moment to fuss with his hair and grab his bag before stepping out of the room. It was almost time to leave, he didn’t need to be late. Izuku was sure Mr. Aizawa was already less than pleased with him, being late wasn’t going to help his case. 

Izuku walked out of his room, pausing to look at the closed door of his Master’s bedroom. Empty, cold, quiet. Untouched.

He couldn’t help himself imagining that she was in there, fast asleep. That she just came home from a long night and wanted to rest. She would have apologized for not seeing Izuku off, but he would understand. She would have asked if he had everything before going to bed, but not before putting Eri back to sleep and cleaning up the kitchen.

“I have everything.” He mumbled, as if hearing her ask. “Backpack, phone, charger.” He pulled out the necklace. “And my good luck charm. I’ve got it.” 

He tucked the charm into his shirt and pressed a hand to his eyes. “Everyone is fed, and I’ll do dishes when I get back. I’ll have a good day...and I’ll stay safe. I promise.”

A harsh ache filled his chest, imagining her smile and her ruffling his hair. 

Izuku hurried down the stairs and straightened his bag, stepping around a few Moogles as they walked by.

“You heading out, Kupo?” 

“Yeah.” He walked over to Eri who got up from her seat. He kneeled down and hugged her as tight as he could. “I’m heading out, and I’ll text you when I get to the school. Have a good day okay?”

Eri held on tightly. “I will. Please be careful.” 

“Don’t worry, I will. I promise.” He patted her back. “I’ll be back, I promise.” 

She nodded and clung to him a little while longer. That fear sat heavy inside of her, the fear of him not coming back, of losing him just like she lost Aqua. That kind of uncertainty was terrifying...but she trusted him. He hadn’t broken a promise, and knowing him he never would. He’d be back.

Izuku stood up when Eri finally let him go, looking down at her with a smile.

“I’ll see you later Eri.”

“See you later…”

He walked over to the entrance, slowly moving the covered out of the way before looking back at everyone. “Make sure it’s secured when I leave. We don’t want anything getting in here okay?”

“Will do Kupo!”

“Be careful!”

“See you after school Kupo!”

Izuku nodded and slipped out, hurriedly putting the cover back where it was before. He could hear small footsteps from the otherside, the Moogles were already on it. He took a deep breath and nodded to himself before making his way out. Get to school, and stay safe. 

As he walked out into the streets, it felt like he had been smacked in the face. Despite it being daytime, the sky was still dark. Swirling with dark clouds and obscuring the sun, hardly any light in the sky. It was dark enough that even most of the street lights were still on, offering small safe havens from the darkness around. The streets were dead, the chasms from the day before were even wider. No living soul could be seen, save for the occasional hero. 

Izuku swallowed down whatever fear he had and began to run, something told him he wasn’t safe. He was out in the open and unprotected, so he had to keep moving. If he didn’t…

He shuddered, and turned a corner, sprinting down the street. He relied on the route he took the day before to get there, granted it was a little more treacherous this time. There was less ground to walk on, and more gaping holes in the ground that could swallow him up. He couldn’t space out this time, there wasn’t going to be anyone to save him this time around. 

He grunted as he jumped over some debris before continuing his run. He still had a lot of ground to cover.

He hardly saw anyone as he ran, maybe a few faces poking out of the windows before quickly disappearing. There was no one on the streets save for an occasional civilian rushing to get inside. 

_ There has to be a safe zone somewhere...somewhere people can take shelter. At least I hope so… _

Izuku came to a stop as he reached what he thought was a safe spot. He needed to catch his breath and get his bearings again. He ended up taking a few random turns since his route from before was changed.

“If I’m on this street, then I should be able to go down this way and get to the school...it can’t all be cut off can it?” He mumbled to himself. “This road might be a small detour, but I should be able to get there…” He looked down at his phone.

“I’m gonna be late…but as long as I get there it’ll be okay.” He pocketed his phone and was about to start running when something made him freeze. A pit of dread appeared in his gut, sending chills racing up and down his spine. The faint wind that had been blowing was suddenly gone, leaving him in the petrifying silence. 

He swallowed back the bile that crept up his throat and began to look around. He knew this feeling, he knew it too well. He was in danger. Something was out there, watching him and waiting. If he didn’t run now then his chances were slim, but if he ran the wrong way then he was done for. 

Izuku shuddered when he heard something skittering behind him, claws scraping against the asphalt and concrete. Low hisses and chitters that only one kind of creature could make.

Izuku steeled himself as he slowly turned around, paling when he saw a large group of Heartless behind him. More appeared, seeping from the ground and taking form, watching him with their beady yellow eyes. 

There was a moment of stillness before all hell broke loose. 

One of them hissed loudly and Izuku reacted. With fear fuelling him, he created a large wave of flames and sent it towards the Heartless. He spun around and sprinted down the street, well aware of the horde coming after him. He couldn’t bring himself to look over his shoulder to see just how many were coming after him, so he just ran. As fast as he could.

As he turned a corner Izuku sent off another wave of panicked flames, these ones larger than the last. He heard a few hisses and screeches, he could practically feel their rage towards him as they barreled after him. 

_ Just keep running, just keep running! _

Izuku looked up to see he was almost there, he was getting close to the roads that were next to the UA School grounds. Izuku couldn’t help but feel a pang of worry, if the Heartless didn’t back off and followed him to the school, then he’d be putting so many people in danger. They didn’t care if its a safe ground, they had their sights set on him and they weren’t going to stop until they had him.

_ Is this what happened with Master? Was she chased down too? Hunted down until they finally caught her? _

Izuku faltered and nearly tripped over himself, barely staying on his feet. He scrambled forward and ran towards the gates. He looked around in panic, looking for someone to save him, to help him. There was no way he could take all these Heartless on his own, was there?

Izuku froze in front of the gates and turned around, watching the swarm race towards him. His hands shook as he raised them, intense flames burning at his hands as panic overwhelmed him. 

The Heartless were right on top of him when a few of his flames shot out and devoured a few, but it wasn’t enough. He could see their claws reaching out for him when a painful ache appeared in his chest, a harsh tug that almost sent him into overdrive. Before he could react with another blast of magic he felt someone grab the back of his shirt and pull him back.

“Detroit...Smash!” All Might shouted as he threw a punch at the horde of Heartless. They all went flying and scattered in his presence. A few pausing to hiss at him before disappearing into the shadows. 

Izuku panted, looking up to see none other than the Number 1 Hero right in front of him. If he hadn’t been shaken he probably would have started gushing. 

“That was a close one now wasn’t it?” All Might looked down at the shaking student. “Those creatures are getting rather bold now aren’t they?” 

Izuku wordlessly nodded and slowly got to his feet. “Th-Th-Thank you sir…” He stammered. “That was...way too close…” 

“Are you alright?” All Might looked down at him. “You’re shaking quite a bit.”

Izuku waved his hands around. “N-No I’m okay, thank you All Might!” He stepped back. “Just a little sp-spooked…I thought those things were gonna…” He trailed off, staring at the empty street before shaking his head.

“Really, I can’t thank you enough.” Izuku looked up at his other childhood hero, just a small spark of happiness ringing through his chest. Momentarily, before fading out, and burning low.

“It’s no problem Young...I know your name from somewhere.” All Might hummed as he scratched his chin. “Midoriya, correct? You placed first in the Entrance Exams.”

Izuku made a strangled noise as he blushed. He covered his face and turned away towards the gates. “U-Uh, yes sir…” Izuku mumbled, a few sparks of lightning zapping around him. 

“It’s rather late, you should get to class Young Midoriya.” All Might patted his back. “Please be careful on your way there, don’t want you getting hurt now.” 

“R-Right! Thank you!” Izuku nodded and hurried off. He was just saved by All Might... _ again _ . That was what, two times now? 

_ He probably doesn’t remember me from the Slime Villain incident...or the Heartless one. Of course he wouldn’t he’s All Might! _

Izuku shook his head and rushed through the mostly empty halls. There were a few stragglers like him, late and rushing to get to class. By the time he got to his classroom Izuku was certain that Aizawa was going to kill him. This was the second day in a row he was late, he was pretty sure there was a penalty for something like that.

He saw a few students peeking out from the classrooms, a few side glances from the teachers in the rooms. He pretended not to notice as he rushed to his own class, Mr. Aizawa was going to kill him!

Izuku nearly fell over as he turned a corner and ran up some stairs. He only stopped running when he made it to the door. Still closed, but he could hear talking from inside. Mr. Aizawa probably started the lesson already, yeah he was definitely going to kill Izuku.

Izuku took a moment to catch his breath and straighten out his uniform as best he could before knocking the door and opening it. All the noise stopped as everyone turned to look at him. 

“U-Uh, hi…” He mumbled, his face bright red. 

“Oh, so you’re still kicking.” Katsuki was the first one to break the silence.

“Bakugo!” Someone scolded him. 

Ochako and Iida looked relieved to see him and quickly waved him over. Meanwhile Aizawa stared at him before sighing. 

“Running pretty late there Midoriya.” He huffed. “Take a seat so we can get on with the lesson.” He looked back at his book before writing on the board again. Izuku swore he heard a quiet ‘thank god’ from under his breath.

Izuku sat down, and didn’t miss the glare Katsuki gave him as he passed by. He could practically  _ feel _ the rage radiating off of him. Izuku tried to focus on the board, and ignore the nausea building up from the dark aura of the boy in front of him. It was fine, he just had to stay out of the way. 

It was fine.

  
  


**-.-**

  
  
  


Izuku managed to get through the lesson with little to no issue. There were a few times where he had slipped away mentally, his thoughts turning to his Master, Eri, his mother, the Moogles, the Heartless. The worry would eat away at him, letting some magic slip out before he snapped back to reality and forced himself to calm down. 

He got no scoldings, and wasn’t called out for his little slip ups. Which meant he was doing better, keeping it under wraps. There were a few times Katsuki kicked him, or stomped on his foot whenever he deemed the temperature too cold or too hot. 

When the bell rang for lunch everyone had gotten up to leave, Katsuki shoved Izuku back before he could get very far.

“Bakugo, behave!” Aizawa glared at him. “All of you, go get lunch. You have Heroics after, so be sure to eat well.” 

Everyone looked at each other excitedly and began to chatter amongst themselves. Finally the class they were all waiting for, something to look forward to! After everything that happened it would be nice to let off a little steam.

After Katsuki stomped out of the room, Iida and Ochako made their way over to him.

“Midoriya! Good to see you, we were worried when you hadn’t shown up yet.” Iida said.

“Yeah, we thought something happened to you. But we’re glad that you’re okay.” Ochako smiled. “For a second I thought you were gonna get scolded for being late, glad that didn’t happen though.” 

Izuku nodded. “Yeah. Me too…” He muttered, walking towards the door. “I’m glad you guys are okay too, I-”

“Midoriya.” Aizawa stopped him. “Stay back for a bit, I need to have a word with you.” 

Izuku paled as the others grimaced. 

“Guess you weren’t able to get out of that scolding.” Ochako whispered. 

“We’ll save you a seat Midoriya.” Iida nodded before following the rest of the students out of class. Aizawa waited until they were gone before he closed the door and turned to Izuku.

He didn’t say anything at first, instead looking the nervous, fidgeting student up and down before letting out a sigh. “Good to see you’re still in one piece Midoriya.”

Izuku stared at him before nodding. “R-Right…”

“Are you doing better today?” 

“Yes sir, a lot better thank you.” He answered. “I uh...I’m sorry about yesterday. I should have kept it together, I know I caused a lot of trouble. I’m really sorry about that.” He looked away.

“It’s fine.” He shook his head. “There was little damage done, so you’re fine. We recognized that you were in distress, it’s not like you meant to do that.” 

“Still though, I should have kept it together. I know everyone else is stressed, and they didn’t freak out, not like I did anyway…”

Aizawa stared at Izuku before sighing. “Midoriya, you’re not in trouble. This  _ is _ a difficult time, so I understand that a few misfires with Quirks is going to happen. You weren’t the only one who panicked yesterday, so don’t beat yourself up about it. Like I said before, we have counselors, and if this is putting a real strain on your ability to function, then go see one. But that isn’t exactly what I want to talk about.”

Izuku peeked up. “I-It isn’t?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m more interested in continuing the conversation from yesterday. About your Quirk.” He folded his arms.

_ Oh no! _

Izuku looked away and scratched at his face. “I uh...it didn’t react to your erasure Quirk, right?”

“Right.” 

“Uh…”

_ Oh crap how am I gonna get out of this one?! _

“I uh, I’m not really sure to be honest.” Izuku admitted. “I think it might be some...some kind of genetic mutation I think?” He stepped back. “I’ve only had my Quirk for a little while, not even a year yet, and I don’t know too much about it. Uh...b-back in the beginning when it reacted to every little thing I tried to use Quirk Suppressants but they didn’t do much so…”

“You tried to use Suppressants?” Aizawa raised an eyebrow. 

“T-They were prescribed!” Izuku defended himself, hoping this lie could carry through. He did  _ not _ need to tell his homeroom teacher he could use magic. He was certain he’d either call the looney bin or get angry in some way. It would certainly sound ridiculous. 

“And they didn’t work?” 

Izuku shook his head.

Aizawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That would have been a nice addition to your file.” He muttered. 

Izuku backed up towards the door. “Yeah, but I’ve got it under control now Mr. Aizawa…” He reached for the door handle, he just wanted to leave. “I-I have a few outbursts but i-it’s fine! I’m getting better...uh, if that’s all you wanted to talk about then…”

“No, that isn’t all I wanted to talk about. The circumstances surrounding your Quirk are strange, but that’s only one thing I wanted to address with you. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about, is your living situation.”

Izuku felt a harsh chill go through him. His eyes darted up to meet Aizawa’s. Did he know? Did he know his mother was gone, did he somehow figure it out? Was he going to force Izuku to stay at UA? Could he do that, was that legal? But what about Eri, how would he get around that?!

“I stopped by yesterday to talk to your mother, since she still hasn’t responded to the emails sent by UA. Whether we have permission or not to move you into the Emergency Dorms. When I went over there, I was surprised to find the house empty, no car, no lights, no answer when I knocked on the door. Even if your mother was away, I would assume you would have at least heard me knocking.”

Izuku shifted a bit. “Well, I-I didn’t go to my house after I left the school…”

_ Tell some of the truth _ .

“I actually went to a friend’s house to stay the night. They were a little farther, but it was a more or less of a straight shot to their house compared to getting to mine…but since more of the roads collapsed last night it took me a little longer to get here today to yeah…”

“And what about your mother?” Aizawa raised an eyebrow. “Midoriya, if you’re lacking a guardian then you need to tell me. UA will take custody of you, and you can be moved to a safer place. It is illogical to keep making these dangerous runs back and forth every day just because you don’t want to tell us-”

“She’s alive!” Izuku shouted, flames flaring out for a moment. He glared at his teacher for a moment before gasping and putting his flames out. “I-I’m sorry Mr. Aizawa, t-that was uncalled for.”

“Yes, it was.” He eyed Izuku.

“I’m sorry…” He apologized again. “It’s...m-my mom, she’s alive. She is s-she works as a nurse at a c-clinic and since this whole thing went down she’s k-kinda been bouncing around safe areas.” Izuku shuddered and rubbed at his eyes. “Her phone is probably dead, so she’s a l-little hard to reach.” 

“A nurse?” He asked. “I see...do you know what area she’s at now?”

“N-No…” Izuku admitted. “But she was close to one of the danger zones, I-I know that much at least. She’s probably helping as best she can…”

Izuku made himself look Aizawa in the eye as he said this, trying to keep himself from crying. He  _ wished _ that was the truth, he wished it so badly. That she was safe and sound, somewhere out there fretting over a patient, worried sick over her own son as well. 

He can only imagine how scared she might have been when the hospital was swallowed up. She was probably trying to make the patients feel at ease, and the other nurses too. She probably knew what was coming once it started, that she would never see Izuku again. She probably cried at that thought, hoping he’d be okay and not...the mess he is right now. 

Aizawa sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Do you think your mother would want you to move into the UA Dorms, for your own safety?” He asked.

Izuku shrugged. “I-If I’m going to be honest sir, I don’t know…” The lies tasted so bitter on his tongue, but he knew it was the only way to keep everyone together. “I mean our area is safe, so she’s probably okay with me staying at the house…”

“But the trip to get here is dangerous, and only growing more and more dangerous every day.” Aizawa argued, noting the way Izuku flinched at that. “Something to consider Midoriya.” 

Izuku watched him turn away. “You’re dismissed Midoriya, go eat something before lunch is over.” 

Izuku stared at him for a while longer before slowly turning around and opening the door. Before he walked out, Aizawa spoke up again.

“One more thing.”

Izuku paused, and looked over his shoulder.

“Per the clause in the message we sent out to parents, and given how much time has passed, if your mother doesn’t respond by the day's end then UA will be taking emergency custody of you.”

Izuku paled. “B-But Mr. Aizawa, I-”

“This is for your own safety Midoriya!” He activated his Quirk and turned to face Izuku. “We’ve lost enough students, and we are supposed to  _ prevent _ any more losses. If you have an issue you can speak to me about it after class. Understood?” He was firm, glaring at Izuku with no signs of wavering.

Izuku shut his mouth and backed up, he had no power here. He couldn’t argue with him, not here, not like this. He flinched as he felt ice begin to creep up his arms. 

_ But Eri…the Moogles… _

He slowly nodded, and watched his teacher deactivate his Quirk.

“Good. We’ve talked about this long enough, go eat something.” He huffed. “I’m sure your friends are waiting for you.”

Izuku turned around without a word and walked off hurriedly, nearly bumping into a tall blonde man.

“O-Oh, sorry!” He apologized before running down the hall. For a moment he considered looking over his shoulder, he thought the man looked familiar for some reason. He quickly pushed that thought out of his head and made his way over to the lunch room. 

He didn’t need to think about that right now, right now he was more concerned over the impending doom that was losing Eri and the Moogles. He couldn’t do it, there was no way. He wouldn’t survive losing them,  _ they _ wouldn’t survive losing  _ him. _

There was no way they’d make an exception for Eri and the Moogles, would they? No, they probably wouldn’t, they only cared about the students. Not to mention that once it got out Eri wasn’t technically his sister, and was technically under Master Aqua’s care, a  _ vigilante _ , they’d all be in trouble. 

What could he do? Should he come clean? Would they forgive his involvement with a criminal? Would they allow Eri and the Moogles in? Would he still be a student of UA? Would he be arrested? 

The fear left a heavy feeling in his stomach, coupled with the bitter taste in his mouth, and the icy feeling spreading through his body, he wanted to vomit. He was pretty sure he  _ would _ if the world didn’t stop spinning.

His thoughts came crashing to a halt when he slammed into something and was sent to the ground. There were a few gasps of concern as he slowly sat up, knocked back into reality.

“Woah, that was a pretty hard fall. Are you okay?” 

Izuku looked up to see Ochako and Iida looking down at him in concern. He ended up slamming into the pillar they were sitting by and falling over. He did his best to ignore the throbbing headache that was starting as he slowly sat up.

At some point Iida rushed over and helped pick him up. Once he was on his feet, his friend guided him over to the table they were sitting at and helped him sit down.

“Midoriya that looked like a bad fall, are you alright?” He asked. 

Izuku nodded and set his backpack down beside him with a sigh. “Y-Yeah, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. Sorry…” Izuku looked to the side as Iida gasped. 

“Midoriya! Why weren’t you paying attention? If you keep that up you’ll end up getting hurt!” He began making chopping motions with his arms.

Ochako shifted on her side of the table so she was sitting a little closer to Izuku, ignoring Iida’s rant. “Are you okay?” She asked. “Were you spacing out again? I noticed you kept blanking out in the middle of class.” 

Izuku looked up at that, someone noticed? That wasn’t good, he was supposed to have pulled himself together already! What was wrong with him?

He stared at her for a moment before swallowing hard and looking away. “Y-Yeah, I’m okay. Just, still kinda processing everything. You know?” 

Ochako nodded as Iida stopped his rant. “I get it, it really is a lot. But we gotta try our best and make the best with what we’ve got right?” She asked. “Even if what we’ve got is a little scary…”

“The heroes are doing their best to take care of everything, we should have faith in them.” Iida said. “I understand that this is a difficult situation, but I’m sure we’ll get through it.”

Izuku absentmindedly nodded as he listened, and slowly set his head on the table and closed his eyes. He just wanted to make the nausea stop, the smell of food didn’t help. Not in the slightest. 

He listened to their conversation for a bit, beginning to zone out again. Their coherent words slowly turned into a buzz that faded in the background. He felt himself begin to drift off, to float away from the sick feeling and anxiety. His world felt a little bit darker as he felt himself slowly slip into that peaceful space between the world of waking and sleep. 

Something thrummed in his chest, making it feel like a hollow echo inside of him. As he slipped further into that place he thought he felt something. Warm and soothing, a faint light that he could see from afar. He tried to reach for it, curiosity overtaking the exhaustion and fear weighing him down. 

Before he could even get close to the strange light, a voice cut through everything and brought him back to reality. He looked up in confusion, trying to remember what was said. “What?” He asked.

Ochako blinked at him before repeating her question. “I asked if everything went okay with Mr. Aizawa. You did come running in here, did something happen?” She asked.

Izuku blinked owlishly before shaking his head furiously. “N-No! No, nothing really happened. He just had a few questions about my Quirk and living situation and stuff, and yeah.” he waved his hands around. “It was mostly concerning what happened yesterday, it’s no big deal.”

The two shared a glance before looking back at Izuku.

“I’m not so sure it’s ‘not a big deal’ Midoriya.” Iida frowned. “You’ve been rather stressed lately, and it’s clear something is eating away at you. Are you sure you’re alright?” He asked.

“You know if something’s wrong, then you can come talk to us. You know that right?” Ochako asked. “That’s what friends are supposed to do.”

Izuku didn’t meet any of their gazes, keeping his head down. “Uh, yeah. I know that…”

He didn’t need to pile his problems on them, they were  _ his _ issues. His own problems to figure out. He shouldn’t be piling anything else on anyone, that wasn’t fair.

“Are you sure?” Ochako asked, leaning forward.

He shouldn’t talk about it, it was his job to worry over everything, Nobody else, this was his job and he wasn’t in any position to talk about it. It was fine. The crushing pressure in his chest was fine. The unease that’s been sitting in his gut for what feels like forever, it was fine. The terrible aching that pulsed and creaked inside of him, it was fine.

They were his own problems, and as a student of a Keyblade Master he should be figuring out how to deal with everything. The Heartless, how to take care of Eri and the others, how to stay out of UA custody, how to keep everyone afloat. Instead here he was, spiralling all over again. It was a miracle he hadn't set half the cafeteria on fire by now.

Maybe it would  _ help _ , somewhat to ease the burden. To share  _ something _ with them. How he was terrified, how he was tired, how he wished everything would go back to normal, how he missed his family. How he wished he was strong enough to help everyone. How he wished he could just  _ fix it _ .

Izuku groaned and slumped forward, his forehead resting on the table as he stared at the smooth gray tables. Unable to make any kind of patterns with the plain color. He felt their eyes on him, a hand hovered over his shoulder before slowly coming down and offering a small squeeze in reassurance. 

“I’m just…scared, you know?” He admitted. “I really am, there’s a lot going on and I-I can’t help but feel  _ powerless _ . I wish I could do something about it but I  _ can’t _ , and it’s frustrating and scary and...and the only thing I really  _ can _ do is just keep my sister and I afloat. A-And I’m trying my best but, it’s  _ hard _ you know?” Izuku grit his teeth as he felt tears begin to sting his eyes. “I wish there was something I could do, but I can’t. I just wish I could somehow fix everything and I-I’m sorry, I know it sounds stupid.” He stopped as he realized he was beginning to go on a rant. “I just...I hate how everything is falling apart. I hate how we keep losing people around us and...I just wish I could somehow  _ fix  _ it.”

He took a shuddering breath, realizing he had tears streaming down his face. Their silence was deafening, and for a moment he felt nothing but burning shame wash over him.

_ That was stupid! What was I thinking? I should have just shut up, what’s the matter with me? Now look, they don’t want anything to do with you. That sounded ridiculous, and they’re gonna- _

His thoughts stopped when he registered someone sitting on the other side of him, and tentatively leaning against him. The hand on his shoulder was gone, but the presence was the same. He didn’t dare look up, too scared to see the looks on their faces. He knew it was coming, painful rejection. What else could it be?

“I am so sorry you feel like that.” Ochako whispered. “In all honesty, I’m pretty scared too, and I get the feeling of just wanting to fix everything. But we can’t, we don’t know how...but I wish I could. It’s not stupid, it really isn’t.”

Izuku felt a warm hand on his other shoulder and heard a soft sigh. “This is a frightening situation indeed, and I do understand your fears, and concerns, and...frustrations. But all we can do for now is try to hold on.” Iida said. “You’re not alone Midoriya, and I can only imagine how long you’ve been trying to hold this in. I’m sorry that ever had to happen.”

Izuku took another shuddering breath and tried to keep himself from outright bawling. It wasn’t much, but it felt like something had eased off his chest. Just a little bit of the overwhelming pain he felt was gone. 

“Midoriya, if there is anything you need to get off your chest please don’t hesitate to come to us. No one should carry around those kinds of feelings, and just bottle them up.”

Ochako nodded. “Yeah, you can come to us anytime. Please don’t feel bad about it, that’s what friends are for isn’t it? We’re supposed to help each other out.”

Izuku tearfully nodded. “Th-Th-Thank you.”

“Of course.” They responded.

As Izuku began to pull himself together again and wipe his face, Iida asked him a question he didn’t want to answer.

“Midoriya, lunch is almost over. Have you eaten  _ anything? _ ”

The two stopped and watched Izuku, noting how he refused to look at either of them.

“Izuku…” Ochako frowned.

“I-I’m okay, really!” Izuku insisted. “I don’t...I don’t think I can stomach much of anything right now anyway. I’ve been feeling a little nauseous today.” 

Iida frowned. “That’s no excuse Midoriya, you should still eat something. Something light that won’t upset your stomach.” He took the small bowl of rice off from his plate and placed it in front of Izuku. 

Ochako gave him a stern look as she grabbed a small plate of mochi and placed it beside the rice. 

“Mochi? Uraraka, that can’t be good for lunch. It doesn’t contain the nutritional value that one needs.” Iida crossed his arms.

“Well sometimes you need a little something sweet to make you feel better.” She playfully argued. “Besides, it’s strawberry flavored.”

“That has nothing to do with anything!” 

Izuku smiled to himself as he sat up a little straighter and bit into some of the mochi. The sweetness overtaking the bitter taste that had been lingering in his mouth. He listened to the other two’s banter as he ate what he could.

He couldn’t help but think about what Master Aqua said about her own friends, Terra and Ven. How they were best friends, the way she talked about them it was clear she loved them. How much she cherished them.

Izuku couldn’t help but wonder if this is what it’s like to be blessed with such good friends.

  
  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


“I am here!” 

Everyone looked up at the booming voice as the door was thrown open.

“Coming through the door like a hero!”

Every looked up at that and beamed, a few whispering in excitement as he marched to the front of the classroom. 

“Oh my gosh it’s really All Might!”

“He really is a teacher here that’s so cool!”

“Is that his Silver Age costume?”

Izuku watched in awe as the Number 1 Hero turned to face them, his heroic smile on display for all of them.

“Welcome to the most important class at UA High! Think of it as Heroing 101, where you learn the basics of heroics! What it's like to be a Pro, and what it means to fight in the name of good!”

Izuku felt chills race up and down his spine as he said that. Learning how to be heroes, by the Number 1 hero himself! It was exciting!

“Now then, let’s not waste any time and get right into it!” All Might shouted as he pulled out a card for all of them to see. “This lesson will pull no punches!”

Izuku felt some of his excitement dissipate as he read what the card said.

“Actual combat?” He muttered.

“Hell yeah, fight training!” Katsuki grinned in front of him.

“But one of the keys of being a hero is...looking good!” He pointed at the wall as sections began to protrude from the wall, displaying the cases that held their hero costumes. They were all present, none had been removed despite the size of the class being halved. The sight of it gave everyone a small twinge of sadness.

“They were designed for you by your Quirk registration forms you sent in before school started.”

Izuku spotted his own case before looking down at his backpack. “Costumes…”

“Now, get suited up, and meet me in Ground Beta!”

“Yes sir!” Everyone answered him in varying degrees of enthusiasm. They watched him laugh before speeding off, probably going to get the training area ready for them. Everyone got up and took their respective cases, Izuku was about to grab his when he was pushed to the side by Katsuki.

“Stay out of my way nerd before I hurt you.” He glared at Izuku before grabbing his case and turning to walk away. 

Izuku watched him stomp out of the classroom before getting his own case. He knew he wouldn’t be wearing at least one of the items in the case, because he had his own version of it. Arguably much stronger, and definitely more meaningful.

Izuku pushed Katsuki’s aggression out of his head and let a small feeling of excitement fill his chest. He was finally going to be able to put his Master’s second gift to use.

  
  


**-.-**

  
  
  


Izuku nervously adjusted his jacket as he walked through the dark tunnel, he eyed his other classmates and saw how their costumes looked. Certainly a lot flashier than his, that was for sure. But this is what he wanted, something simple, something that suited him. 

Everyone walked out of the tunnel, getting a little windswept by the howling winds once they were out. Everyone couldn’t help but look at the sky, it was dark; and the dark gray, almost purple, clouds seemed to be swirling around each other. It was unsettling, and made a few of them shift nervously from foot to foot. 

“Woah, it’s storming so bad that’s crazy…”

“Look at all this.”

“Should we even be outside.”

“UA is safe, c’mon don’t be a baby!’

All Might approached the group, noticing their nervous looks. 

“Well ladies and gentlemen, when they say that clothes make the pros they certainly mean it. Behold, you are the proof!” Everyone looked up at his voice. “Take this to heart, from now on you are all...heroes in training!” The hero watched everyone smile at the sound of that.

“Man this is getting me all revved up, you all look so cool! Now, shall we get started, you bunch of newbies?”

Izuku panted as he ran through the tunnel, having fallen behind as he was packing his things up. He skidded to a stop as soon as he reached the end of the tunnel, hoping no one noticed his tardiness. 

“Oh hey Izuku!” 

He looked up to see none other than Ochako hurrying over to approach him. Izuku looked over her costume and felt his face turn red before looking away.

“Woah, I really like your costume! Not too flashy, it really suits you.” She smiled and rubbed her arm. “I really should have been more specific with what I wanted, this suit is skin tight, not really my style.”

“O-Oh I uh...t-think you look r-really good in it.” Izuku stammered.

“Oh, uh thank you.” She looked away as her own face grew warm. 

Izuku adjusted his jacket as he listened to All Might’s lecture. 

His costume was indeed simple, nothing too flashy. Black pants and fingerless gloves with faint green lines on the sides. He kept his red shoes, which matched the belt around his waist, holding small pouches of supplies. His shirt was white with the words ‘Hero shirt’ adorning the front. 

His jacket was the most special of all, a gift from his Master, light green with black lines running up and down the arms and side of his torso. She and Eri worked together on certain parts of it, Eri’s touch being the rabbit ears on the hood, claiming being a rabbit suited him. Then on the back, something he wore proudly, was his Master’s symbol. What the public called, ‘Guardian’s Sigil’ the heart on top of the cross.

Izuku smiled to himself as he pulled it a bit closer, the second gift his Master had given him after he passed the exams. It had a warm feeling surrounding it, almost like she was there with him. It was admittedly slightly bigger than him.

_ “You’re gonna go through a growth spurt or two, I intended this to last for a while.” She had smiled as he marvelled at it, crying in happiness as he held the jacket close to him. _

He felt his eyes burn with tears before shaking his head and wiping them away. He wasn’t supposed to be crying, he should be paying attention!

“Due to unfortunate circumstances your class size has been halved, and as such there will only be two rounds. One 3v3 and one 2v2. Your teams will be decided randomly, and as for who will be villain and hero teams, that will be randomly decided as well.” 

“Randomly?” A familiar voice came from a suit of armor. “Sir, are you sure that’s for the best?” 

_ Oh, that’s Iida in there. He looks so cool! _

All Might nodded at him. “Indeed! You see as a hero there are surprise team ups, and we must work around each other. This is not only a lesson in combat ability, but in teamwork as well. Now then,” He held up a remote, “let’s see how the teams are divided!”

All Might pressed a button on the remote and a screen appeared, showing four columns with spinning boxes. Two had three boxes, while the other two had two. With a click of a button the boxes began to slow down, slowly coming to a stop until all four columns were filled in.

**Team A:**

Kyoka Jirou

Shouto Todoroki

**Team B:**

Tsuyu Asui

Momo Yaoyorozu

**Team C:**

Katsuki Bakugo

Tenya Iida

Fumikage Tokoyami

**Team D:**

Izuku Midoriya

Ochako Uraraka

Eijirou Kirishima

  
  


Izuku gulped as he stared at the screen, it was clear what team he was going to go up against. The question was, was he going to be a hero or a villain in this exercise?

“Wow, what a line up!” All Might shouted. “It’s clear who will be going up against who, now let’s see who gets to be villains and who gets to be heroes!” He pressed another button and the colors of the frames began to change, until Team C and B were colored black, while A and D were white, marking them as heroes.

“Now remember, the heroes’ objective is to secure the weapon while the villains are to protect it. You have 15 minutes to complete your goal.”

They all nodded in understanding, slowly scooting over to their teammates.

“Now then, how about we start with the 3v3? The rest of you will be joining me in the observation room where we can watch the exercise play out.”

All Might pointed out the room for them to head out before going to the three teams and handing them their supplies. A roll of capture tape, a floor plan, and communication devices.

“If things start to go too far, I will step in and stop the fight, understand?” He looked over the teams. “Now, you have 5 minutes to prepare.”

“Yes sir.” They all nodded.

Katsuki scowled and looked away, catching Izuku’s eye. Once the hero turned away he openly glared at Izuku. 

Izuku flinched at his gaze and looked down, before slowly looking back at him. He pretended not to notice as Katsuki flinched before huffing and stomping inside the building with the other two in tow. 

Izuku watched him disappear before letting out a sigh and shaking his head. 

“Man, Bakugo looks pretty intense.” Kirishima walked over with a piece of paper in hand.

“He sure is.” Ochako muttered. “Say do you think that they expect us to memorize this whole floor plan?” 

“I hope not, I don’t think I can memorize this thing…”

Ochako shrugged. “Maybe, but either way I’m happy we’re not being threatened with some kind of punishment like last time. All Might is really cool, don’t you-is everything okay?” She stopped mid-sentence and walked over to Izuku. 

Izuku could feel himself shaking, hardly able to pay attention to the floor plan. 

“Y-Yeah, I’m okay.” Izuku mumbled. “It’s just that...we’re up against Katsuki and..”

She frowned and looked at the building. “Yeah, and he keeps on picking on you.”

“So not manly.” Kirishima muttered.

“Yeah, but it’s not only him, but it’s Iida and Tokoyami too, who knows what plan they’ll have up their sleeves.”

Izuku took a shaky sigh and shut his eyes. Memories of the past few months replayed in his mind over and over again. He swore he could feel the intense heat on his skin again, where sunburst shaped scars were. Bruises and painful aches from the times Katsuki had caught him.

“He can be a real pain, but he’s strong and ambitious, his Quirk is amazing…” Izuku muttered, feeling the pain fade as the memory of his Master shone through. 

_ “Izuku, what that boy was doing to you is unacceptable. It’s none of his business whether-hey look at me. It is none of his business whether you have powers or not understand?” _

Izuku felt his good luck charm hum and vibrate at the memory of her. She believed in him right from the very start, she never treated him like he was anything less. 

_ “I’m really proud of you, you know that?” _

Izuku steeled his nerves and looked up as a warm feeling blossomed in his chest, chasing away the cold ache. 

“But that just means I have to do better, I have to work harder.” He stood up straight and glared ahead at the building. “I refuse to lose today.”

The two stared at him before smiling.

“So it’s a fated battle between rivals.” Ochako smiled.

“O-Oh! I’m not trying to get you wrapped up in my fight or anything!”

“You kidding man?” Kirishima slung an arm over his shoulder. “We’re a team, and we gotta stick together. You just give the word and we’ll go. Let’s win this!”

“Yeah!”

Izuku smiled to himself and looked up as an alarm went off. It was time to get to work, they could do this!

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


Izuku grunted as he climbed into a third story window. He didn’t trust the front door, during those 5 minutes those three could have anything planned. Like having someone hidden on the first floor, ready to attack. 

“Just like that, we’re in.” Ochako whispered, helping Kirishima inside.

“We need to be careful.” Izuku said. “There are a lot of blind spots, and they could be anywhere.”

“Right.” The other two nodded.

Izuku stopped at a corner and peeked around, holding up a hand to make the others stop. 

“Kirishima, your Quirk is Hardening right?” Izuku asked as he motioned for them to follow.

“Yeah, I can harden my skin, but I can’t hold it forever.” He nodded.

Izuku nodded and stopped them again. “I hate to ask this of you, but you’re going to have to act as the main defense. If everything goes right, maybe you and I can distract all three long enough for Uraraka to slip past and grab the weapon. It’ll be chaos, but I think it can be done.”

Izuku paused before stopping the others, straining his ears. He felt his heart begin to hammer as he heard the faint sound of footsteps.

“But if it doesn’t go right, you two are going to be on your own. Uraraka, if you can at least touch one of them, that’ll take one of them off the board. Your best bet is going to be going after Iida, since he’ll have to get in close to attack. Kirishima, like I said, main defense. I have a feeling Tokoyami is going to be a hard hitter too.”

They watched Izuku and nodded.

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.” He whispered. “Now, let’s-”

“Found you Deku!” Izuku whirled around and used his body to cover Ochako as a large explosion deafened them all. 

Izuku hurriedly got up and faced Katsuki. Watching the smoke disperse to reveal an angry Katsuki.

“A sneak attack? Not manly at all Bakugo!”

“Izuku! Are you okay?” Ochako asked with alarm.

Izuku ignored the sting on the side of his face, he was barely grazed. “I’m okay, nothing to worry about.”

“What’s the matter Deku, afraid to stand up and fight me?”

“I knew you’d come after me first, and try to catch me by surprise.”

Katsuki grinned and ran at Izuku. “Oh don’t worry. I won’t hurt you so bad they’ll have to stop the fight. Just close!” He yelled and threw a hand towards Izuku. 

Izuku moved forward and grabbed his gauntlet, firmly planting himself before yelling in effort as he threw Katsuki over his shoulder and slammed him into the ground. A move none other than his Master taught him. 

“Katsuki.” Izuku watched him get up while the other two backed away. “You always start your fights with a big right hook. I know because I’ve watched you for years, I’ve been on the receiving end of it for years. I’ve analyzed every hero, I wanted to learn everything I could about them, even you.”

The blonde growled as he got to his feet and began to shake with rage, a dark aura surrounding him. 

“You can call me Deku all you want, but I’m not the same helpless, defenseless kid anymore! You hear me? I’ve changed! I’m not going to let you push me around anymore!” He shouted.

Katsuki grit his teeth and clenched his fists. “Deku...Look at you, so scared you’re shaking in your boots.” He let off a few explosions. “Yet you still wanna fight me, act like you’re more than you’re worth! You don’t know your damn place! That’s why I hate you!”

Izuku couldn’t help the way his body shook, but he refused to back down. He didn’t get much chance to dwell on that thought before Katsuki launched himself at him. 

“Uraraka, Kirishima, go!” He shouted, putting up his hands to block the kick aimed at his head.

“Ha! Ballsy move, think you can really take me on by yourself?” Katsuki sneered at him before noticing the white tape. 

Izuku gasped and ducked, darting to the side as Katsuki tried to get him with another explosion. 

_ Good, he’s focused on me, let’s keep it that way! _

Izuku stared at Katsuki before making a mad dash down the hall.

“Hey, get back here Deku!”

_ My magic is finite, I can’t go using it at random. If I’m going to do something I have to make it count. Especially against him. _

Izuku hurriedly rounded another corner and ran down another hall. He looked at the different paths before throwing a small Blizzard spell down a hall, leaving a trail of frost. If he could get him off his trail for a moment that’d give him enough time to come up with something. 

Izuku took another hallway and ran faster at the growls of frustration. 

_ Okay, take stock of what you have. Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, and Water. Fire is a no go, probably won’t do any good. Aero is only good for dispersing any smoke, makybe taking away the heat from his explosions if I concentrate enough. Blizzard and Water are probably the best, it might nullify his Quirk for a bit. Thunder is a no go, I don’t want to run the risk of hurting him so badly… _

Izuku skidded to a stop and knelt down at a corner, listening to Katsuki rage somewhere in the building. His voice echoing through every hall. 

“Damn it! You damn nerd, thinking you’re all that just because you got a Quirk now? You seriously think you can beat me with that flimsy power of yours you good for nothing? Get your ass out here and let’s see how that flashy power of yours compares to mine!”

Izuku flinched at the sound of explosions, but kept quiet. Once he was sure he was in the clear he made a dash to the staircase and ran further into the floor. Once he was sure he was hidden he sighed.

_ Alright, he’s forgotten about the others, that’s good. The others should be close to the weapon by now, seeing as Katsuki probably went rogue just to get to me…that’s fine. I can capture him and move on, I just have to stay away from his hands. Barriers are going to be a big help in this case. _

Izuku flinched as he heard one explosion after another. He was searching every room for him, just how long could he lead Katsuki around? He stared at his shaking hands and forced himself to take a deep breath.

_ You’re not defenseless anymore, you’re not defenseless anymore! I can’t let him beat me, not here. Not with my team relying on me. _

Izuku gulped and held his good luck charm.

“Come out and face me you coward!”

Izuku shuddered again at the overwhelming aura he gave off, even from so far away. So suffocating and painful, and it only grew stronger. Izuku’s mind buzzed as he slowly stood up. 

Was this what darkness felt like?

Izuku strained his ears, listening for any indication that Katsuki was heading up to his floor. Once he was sure he was safe he pressed the button on his communicator.

“Uraraka, Kirishima, how are you doing?” He whispered. 

“We’re okay, but we got spotted thanks to me. I’m sorry.” Ochako apologized.

“They just noticed us, so we haven’t started fighting yet. But it looks like we’re about to. How are you Midoriya?” Kirishima asked.

“I’m okay, I still haven’t captured Katsuki yet but I'll try to get it done fast so I can help you out over there. Where are you?”

“Middle of the fifth floor!”

“Okay, do your best! I’ll meet you soon.”

“Yeah, same goes to you.”

Once the communicator was off, Izuku looked around before going down another hall.

_ Blizzard, Water, and Barrier. Okay, I can work with that. Barrier will be a little tricky, since I still need some time to make a solid shield that won’t break so easily…but it’ll be good for damage reduction at least _ .

Just as Izuku was about to move he was startled by a low hum. Izuku gasped in surprise and whirled around to see Katsuki standing behind him, holding up his gauntlet. “Would you look at that, I’m all loaded up.” 

Izuku tensed up and narrowed his eyes. “What does that mean?” 

“Why haven’t you used your fancy little Quirk yet Deku? You really think you can get by without it?” He asked.

Izuku steeled himself, feeling his body had begun to tremble again. He could win this, he just had to be careful. He tightened his hold on the capture tape and looked Katsuki in the eye.

“I’m not scared of you anymore. So go ahead, do your worst.” 

Katsuki growled taking a step forward before grinning. “You’re such a stalker, so you know how my Quirk works right? Making explosions with nitroglycerin-like sweat, now guess what I can do if I had a bunch of it.” He pointed the gauntlet at Izuku.

“These things aren’t just for show Deku, they’ve been storing up my sweat for one monster blast.” The opening of the gauntlet began to glow as Katsuki began to pull out the pin. 

That was when they heard the warning from All Might.

“Young Bakugo don’t do it! You’ll kill him!”

“Oh he’ll be fine as long as he dodges!”

Izuku watched him pull the pin as a large explosion was unleashed. What little time he had Izuku raised a Barrier, before he could try to reinforce it the intense firepower slammed into him and shattered it, sending him flying.

From above the others yelled in alarm at the shaking building. 

“What the heck was that?” Kirishima yelled, struggling against Dark Shadow. 

“Was that Bakugo?” Iida looked up.

“It must be…” Tokoyami stared at the door to the room.

Ochako hurriedly stood up from where she had been knocked down, facing the door. “Oh no, Izuku!” She shouted, fearing the worst for her friend.

Izuku groaned as the ringing in his ears slowly faded, there was a buzz from the communicator but he couldn’t make out that much from the static. He forced himself onto shaky legs as Katsuki came walking into the room cackling.

“These things are really awesome.” He looked down at his other gauntlet as it hummed. “Look at that, my other one is ready. Come on nerd, use your stupid Quirk on me, give it everything you got. Because no matter what you’ll never beat me.”

“What’s wrong Deku, you scared? What happened to all that big talk earlier?” 

Izuku looked to the side as a voice made it through the crackling static in his ear.

“Izuku are you okay?” Ochako asked frantically.

“I’m fine, are you two okay?”

“It’s not looking good. Kirishima’s pinned and Iida is keeping the weapon away from me. I think I have an idea, but it’ll be hard to pull off.”

“Okay, just be careful.” Izuku warned.

“You too!”

“Why aren’t you paying attention, nerd?” Katsuki’s eye twitched, and he raised his other gauntlet. “What, was the first one not enough for you?”

“Bakugo!” All Might’s voice came over the loudspeaker, crackling in and out of static. “Do not use another blast like that, do it and I’ll end the exercise, your team will lose by default! You are supposed to be protecting your stronghold, not destroying it. Do I make myself clear?”

Katsuki growled and lowered his weapon. “Fine then, I guess we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way!” He shouted and charged at Izuku.

Izuku moved to dodge, but the ground broke from underneath his feet. 

_ I can’t dodge! _

Izuku put up his hands to raise a Barrier, but before it could form Katsuki let out a blast and sailed over Izuku. Before he could turn around Katsuki set off an intense blast, grinning at the cry of pain.

Izuku flinched in pain at the slight movements, his jacket had protected him from most of the fire damage. He didn’t get the chance to counter Katsuki at all before he slammed a gauntlet into his side, taking the wind out of him. Izuku wheezed as Katsuki grabbed his arm and whirled around, using his explosions to slam Izuku to the ground.

“Don’t you ever forget what you are Deku, a useless weakling who can’t do anything right!”

Izuku stared at the ceiling with blurred vision, he couldn’t catch his breath. It feels like he was suffocating, like his energy was being sapped away. 

_ Move! Move! You have to get up and fight!  _

Izuku was about to push himself up when Katsuki came down on him again, using one hand to grab his jacket and the other to punch him. 

_ Get up. _

Izuku grunted as reached a hand up to grab Katsuki’s shirt.

_ You’re not done yet! _

He yelled and pulled him down, headbutting Katsuki. He heard a cry of pain and was let go. He used this moment to grab one of the gauntlets and sent a rush of ice magic through his hands. 

_ Colder, colder! Completely freeze it over! _

Izuku shuddered as a harsh chill ran through his body, and ice began to creep up Katsuki’s arm. 

“What the hell! Get off of me!”

Izuku grit his teeth as Katsuki wrenched his arm free. Before he could throw another punch, Izuku kicked him off and hurried to his feet. 

_ Keep his temperature down, don’t let him sweat. No sweat, no explosions. _

Katsuki glared at his frozen arm before looking at Izuku. “This really the best you can do, nerd?” He went to smack the gauntlet against the wall to break the ice off, only for the entire thing to shatter into pieces. Leaving his arm bare and exposed. 

Izuku sniffed and wiped away his sweat. “I’m not done yet Katsuki. You haven’t beaten me.”

Katsuki grit his teeth. “Look at yourself nerd, you look half dead and you’ve barely laid a scratch on me. All you’ve done is break my gauntlet.” He held up the other. “And you broke the wrong one dumbass.”

Izuku swallowed hard and clenched his fists. “So what? You’re not supposed to use it, if you do you’ll fail.”

Katsuki grinned. “I don’t give a damn about this stupid test anymore Deku. What really matters is reminding you where you belong.” He began to walk towards Izuku, hands sparking. “You keep forgetting over, and over again. Thinking you can be some kind of hero, when you really can’t!” He swung at Izuku.

He dodged the punch, shouting as he summoned up an ice spell and sent it towards Katsuki. He moved and exploded the ice, hardly any of it struck him. What little did sent a light frost spreading over his skin. 

“You’re a useless idiot who thinks he can be more than what he really is!” 

Izuku watched the blonde launch himself forward and moved to dodge again. Only for Katsuki to anticipate this, before he could get very far he was grabbed again and was slammed into the wall. He fell to the ground, and moved to get up, only to be sent down with a kick to the gut. 

He couldn’t help the helpless feeling that began to overtake him, memories of being dragged to places no one could see or hear him yell. Memories of pain, intense heat, aching bruises that could never seem to heal. He was there again, with no power, with nobody to help him.

Katsuki watched him try to pick himself up again, yelling as he slammed his foot into him again. 

“You’re a Quirkless loser that nobody wants around. Thinking you can actually be something.” He growled as Izuku wheezed in pain, but kept trying to get up. He saw him try to form a small shield around himself, Katsuki didn’t give him the chance. 

“You. Are. Nothing!” He emphasized each word with a harsh kick. “And you know it.”

Izuku tried to blink the stars from his vision as he looked up. “N-No...I’m not.” He pushed himself up before a foot slammed into his head. Katsuki dug his heel in and looked down at him. There was static in his ear, an annoying crackling that made him throw out his earpiece. 

“Yes, you are. You actually thought you could beat someone like me…” Katsuki grinned. “But you can’t. Because even with some kind of Quirk, you’ll always be worthless. Nothing but dirt under my shoe. A little bug to crush.”

Izuku weakly grabbed his leg, tears pouring down his face. Ice raced up Katsuki’s leg before he freed himself and stomped on Izuku’s hand, earning a cry of pain. 

“I saw your dumbass come running through the gate this morning, you had to be saved by All Might. Your useless power can’t even help you against those monsters.” He sneered. “You should have died that night, at least the world would have been freed of one more useless freak.” He delivered one last kick to Izuku’s face before turning away. 

“You’re weak, and you always will be.”

Though fading consciousness Izuku watched him walk away. He was falling into that space again, between sleep and waking. Struggling, and desperately trying to stay awake. He couldn’t stop, not here! 

He was going to hurt them, Kirishima and Ochako, maybe even his own team. 

Katsuki’s words weighed him down though, and briefly halted his efforts to stay awake.

What good could he do? His plan was a failure, he didn’t do anything against him. What hope could he have to beat him? Was he really this useless?

A sense of despair wrapped around Izuku the more he thought about it, dragging him further down. He couldn’t even stop Katsuki, he was letting his team down. He had the chance to stand up for himself, and prove he wasn’t worthless anymore, and he failed. He let everyone down.

He was certain even his Master would be ashamed of him.

_ “No matter what I’m proud of you. Always.” _

An inkling of light shone up above Izuku, glowing brightly against the darkness. Izuku looked up at the light, it seemed so far away, yet so close. He began to reach for it, feeling it’s warmth.

_ No, she wouldn’t be ashamed of me. _

He grit his teeth and struggled against the darkness that tried to drag him down, reaching for the light that grew brighter and brighter. 

_ I have to keep going, I can’t stop here, I won’t! _

The light seemed to come closer to him, drawn to him.

_ I can’t do this on my own. Not just fighting him, but the Heartless. I can’t do it on my own, so please, help me! _

Izuku reached both hands out, gently wrapping them around the radiant glow. A warm feeling blossomed in his chest and spread through the rest of his body.

_ I’ll prove myself worthy of you. _

He never felt more whole in his life.

_ I’ll keep my light burning strong.  _

_ I promise. _

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


Katsuki was about to leave the room when he heard Izuku shift behind him. He paused before turning around, ready to beat Izuku again. A bolt of lightning zapped past him, giving him a light shock. 

He looked up in anger and was about to yell, only for nothing to come out. 

Izuku was on his feet again looking up in a daze and surrounded by magic. Lightning sparked around him, while wind magic swirled ice, fire, and water around him. His injuries were slowly healed by small petals of light falling around him. 

Eyes that were pools of green light stared at Katsuki. Izuku looked him in the eye as he held out a hand, small particles of light gathered in front of him. 

Katsuki stared at him, paralyzed for a moment before rage fuelled him to scream, and launch himself at Izuku. In no time he was right in front of him, Izuku hadn’t moved, he hadn’t even flinched.

“You little bastard!” 

Katsuki went to hit him, only to hear a loud crack and be sent flying. He felt the pain before he hit the ground. He forced himself up and was about to yell at Izuku until he saw him.

The elements had dispersed and Izuku was still standing there, an unsettling calm surrounding him. In his hand was a strange key-like sword. 

It almost looked like a skeleton key, the teeth were cut into the shape of half a five point star, with two indentations near the silver neck of the blade. There was a small red band on the blade before it came to the green, circular guard. The top half of the guard stretched down like an upside down crescent moon, with three black stars lining the top, matching the grip. The keychain that dangled from the bottom was a green sphere, encaged by silver lines.

Katsuki felt something inside him shudder in  _ fear _ when he saw the blade. Fear that was quickly replaced with rage. 

“What the hell is that supposed to be Deku? You think that fancy new toy is supposed to help you?”

Izuku didn’t answer, instead walking towards Katsuki. He didn’t react when he was charged at again, but instead blocked the hit. With his free hand Izuku punched him in the face, leaving ice where he hit him. 

Katsuki staggered back and stared at Izuku. “What, think you’re too good to talk to me anymore nerd?” He stopped and watched Izuku’s movements. No, he was too calm and collected. It wasn’t like him. 

“Don’t tell me he’s unconscious…” Katsuki muttered, letting a few sparks off before scowling. 

“No.” 

Katsuki froze.

Izuku looked him in the eye again, the green glow was gone this time. Katsuki swore there was a flicker of blue in his eyes. 

“I’m wide awake!”

Izuku shouted and charged forward, moving to the side at the last moment to dodge a surprise blast. He brought the blade down, and sent Katsuki staggering with stars in his vision. He didn’t let up, still moving forward and striking again and again. Katsuki blocked some of the hits with his remaining gauntlet, but was still struck a few times. 

Each time he was hit Katsuki felt something in him writhe and lash out in anger, causing him to do the same. Izuku dodged most of his explosions if he didn’t block them with his Barrier. 

Izuku jumped back and aimed his Keyblade at Katsuki, gathering up a great deal of magic and firing off a Blizzard spell that hit him head on. He didn’t have time to dodge. The blonde yelled as a flurry of ice consumed him and slammed him into the wall. He was about to move forward when Izuku fired off another spell, this time freezing over his arms and pinning him to the wall. 

Katsuki shouted and tried to use his Quirk to melt off some of the ice, shocked that it wasn’t melting instantly. His power seemed so flimsy before. 

Izuku ran forward, yelling as he swung his Keyblade down.

Katsuki instinctively flinched, expecting to be hit by it. When he looked up he saw the end of his weapon pointed at his throat. Izuku was panting, glaring at Katsuki.

“I said I wasn’t going to lose, and I meant it. You see this?” He held up his Keyblade, his vision began to blur. “This is proof, I’m not going to let you push me around anymore. I’m not worthless, not anymore. This is it, my Indomitable Spirit!” 

Izuku lowered his weapon and turned away, he ignored Katsuki’s screams of anger as he made his way to the torn up entrance. When the spinning became too much he collapsed to the ground, breathing heavy and staring at his Keyblade.

He tried to pull himself up when a loud alarm went off. He looked up, and through crackling speakers All Might spoke.

“The hero team...wins!”

Izuku smiled to himself and sighed, laying his head down. They won, they did it! Izuku only wished he could have been of more help. He stared at his Keyblade and felt tears pour down his face. 

He got his Keyblade, finally! 

Though the feeling was bittersweet, yes he got it, but his Master wasn’t there to celebrate with him. To congratulate him, to teach him even more. She was gone...

He heard voices around him, mixing into each other and becoming nothing more than a buzzing background noise. Izuku sobbed loudly, startling those around him. The voices grew louder, surrounding him until a louder voice quieted them down. He heard something break and angry stomping, and then it was quiet. 

He continued to cry until he felt a hand gently rest itself on his head, grabbing his attention. All Might was kneeling beside him, he had sent the others away. 

Izuku couldn’t help but notice a sad look on All Might’s face, where there was usually a heroic smile, was an expression of sorrow and understanding.

“Young Midoriya, I understand. I understand the pain of not having your mentor there with you, especially when you’ve hit a milestone…” He glanced at Izuku’s Keyblade, noting how it reminded him of Guardian’s. “It is painful, no doubt, but I promise the pain will pass with time. Just know that she would be proud of you, I know it.”

Izuku looked up with wide eyes. “Y-You knew…?”

All Might nodded. “Yes, but I am sworn to secrecy. So have no fear, no one else will know.” He whispered. 

Izuku laid his head down again, another sob escaping him.

_ All Might knew...is he the one who left us food? Does that mean Master Aqua met up with him before? Did she ask him to take care of Eri and I if something ever went wrong? Maybe she did, of course she would. She always looked out for us… _

“You can rest now Midoriya, you’ve done enough.”

Izuku gripped his Keyblade tightly and nodded. He continued to cry until he finally passed out, as soon as he was unconscious his Keyblade vanished in a flash of light. 

Katsuki stood outside the room, shaking in rage. It took everything he had to not run in and yell at them. What did All Might know? Who was he talking about?

More importantly, how did Deku get an upgrade for his power, and why?

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


Mirio sighed as he made his way down the hall. He was looking through his phone, going over the messages he sent to his friends. 

Nejire had replied earlier, but Amajiki never replied to the first message. It was worrying to say the least, he was supposed to meet them earlier in the day after he moved everything from his house to the UA Dorms. 

Mirio couldn’t help but fear the worst, of course he couldn’t. That was one of his best friends, one of his closest friends. The mere thought of losing him scared him half to death. He would be fine, he was sure. He just had to have faith. Amajiki was one of the strongest people Mirio knew, he could hold his own in a fight, and when he put his mind to it he was unstoppable. 

Mirio stared at the text message, almost begging for the text bubbles to pop up. For some sign his friend had gotten the message other than the ‘read’ icon. 

He couldn’t help but dread his meeting with Nighteye after school. He was supposed to help with patrols, but the thought made him feel uneasy. He couldn’t help but feel like something bad was going to happen, like one more tragedy was right on top of them. 

He mulled over the thought before shaking his head and pushing the feeling down. He had to concentrate, so many people were depending on him. It was going to be up to him to fix everything. Afterall he was the sole survivor...at least that’s what Sir said.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw a pair of medic robots carrying a stretcher with a body on it. A body with a head of green hair, and a familiar set of freckles.

“Midoriya?” Mirio’s eyes widened and he hurried over to the robots, walking alongside them.

“What happened to him?” He asked. “Is he okay?”

“Hero Training.” One of the robots said.

“You should see the other guy.” The other responded.

Mirio frowned and looked over Izuku, there were no visible injuries. Maybe he was suffering from something closer to a concussion, then passed out after the exercise? Maybe he was just tired?

He took note of the tear marks on his face, he had been crying. A pit of dread appeared in Mirio’s gut. Did he have another breakdown? Did anyone else get hurt?

He wordlessly followed the robots to the Nurse’s Office, he was supposed to help keep an eye on Midoriya. That was the job All Might gave him, he trusted him to help watch him. Besides, he was in a free period. There was no harm in making sure he got to the Nurse’s Office safely. 

When they got to the office Mirio opened the door for the robots, getting a thank you in return. He followed them inside and shut the door behind him. He heard a tired sigh from Recovery Girl as the robots placed Izuku on the bed and zoomed out of the room, Mirio opened the door for them again. 

“My goodness, only the third day of school and this boy is a regular patient.” She tsked and looked over him. 

“Uh, is he okay?” Mirio asked, getting a ‘shush’ from her as she took his vitals. The third year was quiet for a while, looking over the medicine cabinets as she did her job. It was starting to dawn on him that maybe he shouldn’t be there, he was just there to get confirmation that Midoriya was okay, but he didn’t want to leave him.

He began to scroll through a few of his apps when he heard Recovery Girl sigh. She went back to her desk and wrote down a few things. 

Mirio watched her for a bit before scooting closer, looking Izuku over before turning back to her. 

“Is he…”

“He’ll be okay, he’s just tired. Training probably took a lot out of him, so it’s best if he rests.” She answered him.

Mirio sighed in relief and ran a hand through his hair. “That’s good to know. I’m glad.” He glanced over to the first year again before moving towards a chair. “Is it okay if I stay here for a bit?”

Recovery Girl turned towards him and looked at the clock. “Don’t you have a class to go to?”

“Not really, it’s a free period before I have to go to my internship. I’m usually supposed to eat and rest up a bit before I go. I just...wanna stay with him.” He sat down in the chair he pulled up.

“Does this have anything to do with you being there with him yesterday?” She asked.

Mirio laughed. “Kinda, I just...feel sort of responsible for him. I saw him in the morning yesterday, and I saw he wasn’t looking too good. I should have brought him to you and instead...well…”

“I see.” She watched Izuku before looking back at his chart. “You can stay, might be good to have a familiar face to wake up to. By the way, how are those burns feeling?” She pointed at his bandaged arms. “While you’re here I should finish healing those up.”

Mirio shook his head. “No need ma’am, I’m okay. I don’t feel a thing!”

“That wasn’t a suggestion.”

“Oh.”

He laughed sheepishly and shifted in his chair to face her as she walked over to him. He watched her unwrap the bandages before kissing his injuries. 

Mirio watched the rest of his burns disappear before sighing. “Thank you Recovery Girl.” He smiled.

“No problem, it’s still your free period so get some rest. You need to be in top shape before going on patrol.” She walked back to her desk.

“Of course, thank you ma’am.” He leaned back in his chair with a yawn, looking up at the ceiling. It hadn’t taken up too much of his stamina, but still, rest sounded good. With how little he slept the night before, and how tired he’s felt all day it sounded like heaven. 

He started to drift off a few minutes later, falling into a light sleep. He would be faintly aware of clacking keys, and of Recovery Girl walking around, it didn’t bother him. It was soothing in a way. 

He only startled out of his sleep when the door opened and two people walked in hurriedly. Mirio jolted and looked up to see a girl holding a yellow backpack accompanied by a taller boy with glasses. Both were in their regular uniforms, but the girl looked a little bruised up.

“Izuku?” She asked as she hurried in. 

“Hush!” Recovery Girl scolded her. “I have students resting in here!”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She apologized. “We’re worried about our friend, Izuku Midoriya. Is he still here?” 

Recovery Girl nodded. “Right over there in that bed. Don’t worry, he’s not injured. Just exhausted, he and another student are resting so keep your voices down.”

“It’s okay Recovery Girl.” Mirio stood up and stretched. “That was a good nap, but I should probably start getting ready.” 

The two first years looked at him.

“Oh, uh, who are you?” 

“The name’s Mirio Togata, third year heroics student. Nice to meet you.” He held out a hand to them.

“Oh, nice to meet you. I’m Ochako Uraraka.” She shook his hand.

“And I am Tenya Iida, a pleasure to meet you.” He made chopping motions, with his hands, and stopped to Mirio’s hands. “We came to drop off Midoriya’s bag and see how he’s doing.” 

“He’s still asleep.” Mirio shrugged. “Whatever happened during training really took it out of him.” 

Ochako looked over at Izuku with a light frown. “Yeah, whatever happened was really rough on him. But I’m glad he’s okay.” She went over and placed his bag on the chair beside his bed. She stood there for a minute, looking over his features. He seemed so relaxed and at peace, the opposite of how he’s been for the past two days. 

_ I hope he’s having a nice dream at least… _

She smiled to herself, before pausing and shaking her head. She felt her face turn a bright pink.

“A-Anyway, we should probably get to the Dorms.” She walked over to Iida. “Mr. Aizawa said we should head back, especially since the storm outside is getting pretty bad.”

Recovery Girl nodded. “Go back to your dorms and get some rest. And you,” she pointed at Mirio, “you should probably get going before you’re late.”

“Yeah, I probably should.” He finished stretching and moved past the other two. “Thank you Recovery Girl, and it was nice meeting you two! I Togata go!” He grinned at his cheesy pun, waiting for a moment to see Iida sigh, and Ochako snort in laughter.

Without another word he took off, running down the hall. The last two looked at each other before waving goodbye to Recovery Girl and heading to the Dorms.

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


He was in that place again, the glass mural with a picture of himself on it. 

He was lying on the warm glass, slowly coming out of a tired haze. His body felt sore, and his head was fuzzy. He stared up at the bright light overhead, taking in the warm glow. 

He wasn’t sure how long he laid there, lost in his head and trying to focus. Faint memories of how he got there played in his mind, again and again. When the memory of his Keyblade came forth he stopped, he sat up in a hurry and went over it again.

A Keyblade,  _ his _ Keyblade. That was right, he was able to summon it. And then…

He slowly got to his feet and held out his hand, willing the Keyblade forward. He jumped in surprise when it appeared in his hand. It felt light, almost weightless. Like it was where it belonged, a piece of him he didn’t know he was missing. 

He let himself feel complete joy, he had done it! He finally got his Keyblade, only if Master Aqua was there to see it, he could only imagine what her reaction would have been. 

He smiled to himself and held it tightly and looked it over. He didn’t get to admire it very long before he saw something that caught his eye. He looked up from his Keyblade, Indomitable Spirit, and focused his attention on the glass panels. Katsuki’s panel to be specific, the cracks were worse than last time. They ran deeper and were larger.

Izuku took a step towards them, kneeling down to get a closer look. A dull ache ran through his chest the longer he stared at them, it was a painful rift. He frowned and reached out to touch one of the cracks, wishing he could heal it somehow.

Before he could touch it he heard something. It was faint at first, but the longer he focused on it the louder it got.

Izuku stood up and looked around, trying to find the source. It sounded familiar,  _ too _ familiar. 

“Izuku!” He looked up and whirled around. He’d recognize that voice from anywhere. 

Eri.

She sounded scared, panicked, afraid. 

“Eri?” He called out, running towards where he heard the voice come from. “Eri, where are you?” 

“Izuku, you have to wake up!” She was on the verge of tears. “Please!”

A harsh shudder went through Izuku as fear took over. “Where are you? Eri, you have to tell me so I can find you!”

“Wake up!” 

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


Izuku jolted awake and sat up in a hurry. He panted and looked around, he was in the Infirmary. It was dark, and cold. The lights had a weak glow, and would flicker in and out. Eventually they popped, and went out, leaving him in darkness.

The wind howled outside, beating against the school. Other than the wind everything else was eerily silent.

_ Something’s not right. _

Izuku looked around and saw his bag on a chair nearby. He grabbed it and went through his things to find his phone. Much to his shock it was  _ hours _ after school let out. There were multiple missed calls and text messages from Eri.

Izuku pulled his backpack on and unlocked his phone to look over the messages.

_ Izuku where are you? _

_ Are you okay? _

_ Missed Call _

_ I’m getting scared, I think something’s wrong _

_ Izuku all the lights went out! _

_ Please text back _

_ I’m scared! _

_ Missed Call (2) _

_ A few of the Moogles went outside, they didn’t come back _

_ Izuku something really bad is happening, please come back! _

_ There’s something outside _

_ I’m really scared _

_ Missed Call (5) _

_ There’s something inside _

_ Help _

  
  


Izuku looked at the text messages in horror, he didn’t have a second thought as he shoved his phone in his pocket. The last message was about 5 minutes ago. Mr. Aizawa and his rules be damned, he was not leaving her alone!

Izuku dashed out of the Nurse’s Office and sped down the halls, he ignored the unnerving silence and the eerie creaks throughout the school. He ignored the fact that there should be other people there at least, some kind of teacher or even a student. The main building was desolate, as if it was completely abandoned. 

His sole focus was on Eri, he had to get to her. He had to get to her  _ now _ .

He slammed the front doors open and ran out into the courtyard, stumbling over himself. As he righted himself he got a good look at the outside. The sky was pitch black, a giant vortex had appeared far above them. Glowing red, orange, and purple. 

From afar he could see bits and pieces of buildings being sucked into it, mercilessly consumed by the darkness and never to return.

_ Get to Eri _ .

Izuku steeled himself and began to run through the courtyard. The faster he got to her, the sooner he could save her. The sooner she’d be okay. 

He promised he’d take care of her, he’d keep her safe. There was no way he was going to break that promise!

He was halfway through the courtyard when he heard a shrill scream and stopped in his tracks. He looked towards the source and froze in terror when he saw Ochako and Iida running from a swarm of Heartless. They were scrambling over each other, trying to get to the two. 

He moved without thinking, sprinting towards his friends and hearing their cries of surprise at the sight of him. He disregarded it for the moment as he ran past them and summoned his Keyblade.

“Midoriya, what are you doing?”

“Stay behind me!” 

Izuku gripped his Keyblade tightly and pointed it at the Heartless. 

“Thunder!” 

A wave of lightning surrounded the group before racing towards the Heartless. They flinched at the haunting hisses and shrieks that came from the shadows as they writhed in pain. Spasming and twitching in agony before disappearing in a puff of smoke. 

The few that survived wasted no time in attempting to avenge their fallen. Jumping up with claws outstretched to tear into them. Izuku shouted and swing his blade in a wide arc, knocking them all down before launching another spell.

“Fire!”

A small wall of flames swallowed them, burning away the darkness and leaving nothing behind. 

Izuku stared at the charred ground in surprise before looking down at his Keyblade. 

_ That was...a lot stronger than I expected… _

Before he could go in depth with his thoughts Izuku shook his head and looked at the others, who wore mixed expressions of shock and relief. 

“Are you two okay? What happened? Where is everyone?” He fired off one question after another.

“W-We don’t know!” Ochako replied first. “We were in the dorms when everything went dark, we thought it was just a normal power outage. And then...then the screams started…”

“Unfortunately we were the only ones who were able to escape the dorms.” Iida continued, he was visibly shaking. “Everyone else…after we escaped we realized you were still in the Infirmary. We weren’t sure if you were conscious or not, but we were worried.”

“I’m okay.” Izuku nodded. “I just woke up, and I’m glad you guys are okay too. Are you sure nobody else made it out of the dorms?” 

Iida stared at the ground for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I don’t believe so.”

“Wait!” Ochako spoke up. “Todoroki left the building earlier, he said he needed some air. D-Do you think he might still be around?” 

“It’s possible.” Izuku mumbled. “We can keep an eye out for him while we run. Come on, we gotta go!” He began to run towards the school gates.

“Go? Go where?” Iida sputtered and began to run alongside Izuku, Ochako right behind him.

“We have to get out of here, there’s someone waiting and I’m really worried about her.”

Ochako and Iida looked at each other in confusion. 

“Who?”

Izuku looked over his shoulder. “My sister!”

The two felt ice run through their veins. If she was waiting for Izuku, did that mean she was alone?

“Lead the way Izuku!” Ochako shouted.

“Okay, stay close!” 

Most of the streets were dead, abandoned and overturned cars and broken shop windows. A few plants had been ripped from the ground from the strong winds, and were strewn about all over the ground. 

The streets that weren’t quiet were filled with chaos. People ran around screaming and crying as they were hunted down by the Heartless. One by one people were killed and disappeared. Some tried to save each other and reach some kind of safety, while others sacrificed one another and pushed them into danger to save themselves. 

The three couldn’t help their shock as they watched people commit these acts. Izuku put his Keyblade away and grabbed Ochako and Iida’s hands, pulling them along and weaving through the chaos to get to where they were needed. They all tried to ignore the screams that were suddenly cut off, or the enraged yells as people fought with one another. They looked away from the spatters of blood that decorated the streets.

_ Just get to Eri, just get to Eri, just get to Eri! _

Izuku heard Ochako’s horrified sobs and Iida’s stunned silence, but they couldn’t slow down now. They were still in danger, Eri was still in danger. If they stood still then they could be caught, either by the Heartless or someone willing to give up the lives of others.

Izuku guided them through the chaos and led them to another quiet street. He kept them moving, as long as they were moving they were safe. He blinked back the tears and continued to run down the street. It was selfish, but his friends were his priority. His family was his priority, and he refused to put them in any more danger.

“Izuku!”

He was brought out of his thoughts as he slammed into a glacier. He stumbled back and was steadied by Ochako. 

“Midoriya, are you okay?” Iida asked through his panting. 

“Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry. I’m more concerned with what this is.” He put a hand to the ice.

“I’m not sure, but I have a guess…” Iida muttered. 

They jumped when the ice shattered and was replaced by another wall of ice. Izuku pulled them out of the way and watched as countless Heartless were swept away by the attack. The shadows were sent flying and skittered around in frustration. Izuku hurriedly cleared them out with a wave of fire magic. He was still trying to get used to the new boost in power.

“Hey! Watch where you’re aiming!” Ochako shouted. 

The three heard a sound of confusion, then the wall of ice began to melt. Behind the wall revealed none other than Todoroki.

“Todoroki!” Izuku shouted.

“Oh, he’s alive!” Ochako sighed in relief. 

“Thank goodness.”

The teen stared at them in silence before raising an eyebrow. “What are you doing off campus?” He asked.

“We could ask you the same thing!” Ochako shouted, she was gripping Izuku’s arm tightly. Her calm facade was beginning to break apart.

“I was chased off the campus, shortly after I went to take a walk.” He narrowed his eyes.

“The same thing happened to us except...the monsters got into the dorms.” Iida looked him in the eye. “Uraraka and I were the only ones to make it out, and we went to get Midoriya to see if he was okay. He ended up saving us.”

Todoroki looked at Izuku, sending a rush of fear through the boy.

“We had to run, we’re going to get my sister and then we’re going to try and find a safe place.” Izuku explained quickly. “Please, come with us.”

Todoroki raised an eyebrow, finding it hard to believe Izuku was the one to save them. “Why should I?”

Izuku grit his teeth, the longer they stood here talking the longer it took to get to Eri. He felt something in him snap.

“Are you kidding me? We’re the only surviving students of our class and you want to ask me  _ why _ you should come with us? We’re all in danger, but with more people we have a better chance at defending ourselves! We can’t lose anyone else, so just come with us!” He shouted, taking the other aback. 

“But if you’re going to decide, then do it quick. Because the longer we sit here talking about this the more danger my sister is in! Or if you’d like I can make the decision for you and just drag you with us because I’m not losing anyone else today!” 

Izuku panted, swallowing hard before looking up apologetically. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled. But we’re running out of time, so-”

“I’ll go with you.” Todoroki cut him off. “You’re somewhat right in the sense there’ll be more of us to protect each other. Besides, even if I refused you may have just pulled me along anyway.” 

Izuku nodded and looked at the others. They nodded back at him, they were okay and ready to start moving again. He looked up at Todoroki. 

“Stay close, and stay behind me. We’re almost there. Okay?”

“Understood.”

“Okay, let’s go!” He took off at a sprint again, looking over his shoulder to make sure the others were with him. A small group of survivors, a group  _ he _ of all people was in charge of. Izuku began to feel nausea set in from the anxiety. He swallowed back the bile and forced himself to focus. 

Eri needed him, he did not have time to be falling apart. 

As they ran they came across small groups of Heartless. Izuku gave them no time to attack as he sent off waves of fire and lightning to destroy them. He glared at a few that hid in small alleys and corners, almost daring them to come out and try and stop them. 

Izuku almost felt relieved as he saw familiar buildings, or what was left of them. 

“We’re almost there, follow me!” He rounded a corner and slipped into an alleyway, Just one more turn and they’d be home. He’d find Eri, and he would save her.

“Midoriya, where are we going?” Iida asked.

“You live in this area?” Ochako asked.

“This is my second home.” Izuku admitted. “It’s my sister that mainly lives here, but because of certain circumstances I’ve been living here full time.” 

“What kind of circumstances?” Todoroki asked.

Izuku opened his mouth to answer, but stopped dead in his tracks when he reached the entrance. He felt Ochako bump into him.

“Izuku? What’s wrong?” She asked, looking over his shoulder and gasping.

The makeshift barricade from the morning was completely torn apart. Splinters of wood and shards of metal laid all around the ground. 

_ Something got in… _

“You stay behind me.” Izuku ordered, looking over his shoulder. They could see an expression of terror mirroring their own. “Don’t go anywhere else, just stay behind me.”

Once they nodded, Izuku rushed inside and looked around. The furniture was all ripped up and scattered about in the house. There were scratches all over the walls and floor, whatever came through left a path of destruction. The more he looked at it the more he began to panic.

_ Where is she? Where is she? _

He couldn’t take it, the terror was killing him. 

“Eri!” He screamed. “Where are you!”

He looked around, not seeing any movement from the first floor. He was about to make his way to the stairs when a loud scream answered him. 

Izuku wasted no time, rushing up the stairs to where he heard the scream. He made it to the second floor where all the rooms were, and saw Eri backed against the door at the end of the hall. A large shadow jumped and was about to come down on her when she screamed again.

“Izuku!”

“Get away from her!” He yelled, summoning his Keyblade and throwing it at the shadow. It smacked into the Heartless and sent it tumbling to the ground in front of her. It tried to leap at her again, only for Izuku to throw himself at it and drag it away from Eri. 

It clawed at his arms and hissed angrily.

Izuku growled and sent fire magic racing through his hands, making the shadow shriek in pain as it began to burn. The shadow desperately lashed out and scratched Izuku’s face, making him lose his grip momentarily. 

The Heartless used this to its advantage and focused its attention on Izuku, clawing at him and trying to tear him apart. 

Iida rushed forward and kicked the Heartless away, stunning it for a moment. Ochako hurried over and helped him up, once he was on his feet again he ran to where his Keyblade had landed and grabbed it. Just as he turned around the Heartless ran at them, shrieking in anger. 

Before it could attack them again Izuku moved forward and brought his weapon down, dispelling the darkness and making the terrible creature fade. He panted for a moment and regained his bearings. 

He turned around and ran over to Eri, getting to his knees and opening his arms as she scrambled over to him.

“Eri!”

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly as she sobbed in terror, burying her face in his jacket and clinging onto him. 

“It’s okay, you’re okay.” He whispered as he rubbed her back. “I’ve got you now, you’re okay.” He murmured. 

“You’re okay!” She wailed. “I-I thought you...y-you didn’t a-answer and I-I…” She devolved into a mess of tears before she could finish the thought. “I-I thought you we-weren’t coming back!”

Izuku shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. But I’m okay, and you’re okay. I’ve got you now and I’m not going to let anything happen to you okay?” 

He felt Eri nod.

He was about to pick her up when one of the doors opened. Everyone tensed up and readied themselves for another fight. Instead of a Heartless appearing, a Moogle poked their head out the door.

“K-K-Kupo?” They asked.

“Mogma?” Izuku’s eyes widened.

“Kupo!” Mogma cried and ran towards him and Eri. Izuku was quick to wrap them into the hug as well. 

“M-Mogma you-you’re okay.” Eri stammered and held an arm out. The young Moogle hopped into her arms.

Mogma nodded wordlessly and trembled in her arms. “I-I could only h-hide...I’m sorry Kupo.”

Izuku took a deep breath and picked Eri up, who had Mogma in her arms. “I’m glad you two are okay. Are any of the other Moogles around?” He asked.

The two looked up at him tearfully and shook their heads.

_ Oh god… _

Izuku held them closer and turned to the others. 

“Eri, a few of my friends came with me to come save you. Now that we got you, we’re going to try and find a safe place. Okay?” He asked. 

Eri glanced at them before hiding her face in his shirt. 

The other three stood there in surprise. Ochako was the first to approach them.

“Hi Eri, I’m Ochako. Izuku was really worried about you, I’m so glad you’re okay.” She smiled softly. Eri peeked up at her before looking away.

“My name is Tenya Iida, I’m relieved we got here in time.” He waved a hand.

Todoroki stepped closer and held up a hand. “Shouto Todoroki.” He said simply. 

“And I’m Mogma.” The Moogle murmured. “Hi…”

The others nodded at the Moogle before looking at Izuku. 

“Okay Izuku, what’s the plan?” Ochako asked. 

Izuku stared at her, his mind blank for a moment. This was as far as he thought, his main focus was to get Eri. But now what?

Before he could get too lost in thought Izuku blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Supplies.” He said quickly. “We need supplies.”

“Where on earth are we going to get those? Do you have a first aid kit somewhere?” Iida asked.

Izuku shook his head. “No, something better.” 

He moved past the others and headed down the stairs, making his way to a now broken cupboard. The other three stared in confusion as he opened the cabinet to reveal bottles with green liquid sloshing around inside, and blue stones of varying sizes.

Izuku knelt down to set Eri down, only to get a loud whine as she held on tighter. 

“Eri, I need both my hands for this. I’m not leaving, as soon as I’m done I’ll get you again.” He tried to put her down again. This time she reluctantly let go, but still kept herself pressed against Izuku.

Izuku took off his backpack and dumped out all the contents. He sifted through his supplies, scanning over the contents to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. He spotted his two notebooks. One of Hero Notes, and the other his Training Notes. 

He stared at them for a second before shoving them in his backpack, then standing up to pile Potions and Ethers in his backpack. 

“What are those supposed to be?” Todoroki asked.

“Potions and Ethers.” He answered. “Potions will heal your injuries, Ethers will restore your energy, but only  _ I _ can use them. If you guys try you might end up getting hurt.” 

“Potions?” Iida asked. “Midoriya, I’m sorry, but that sounds ridiculous.”

Izuku stopped and looked at Iida, staring at him before grabbing a potion from the cabinet and uncorking it. He downed about half of it and put it down. 

They watched in awe as Izuku’s injuries mostly vanished, and the pain seemed to be alleviated. 

“They actually heal injuries…” Ochako murmured. “That’s amazing.” 

Izuku shoved a few more Ethers into his backpack and closed it up. That seemed to be enough. He turned around and picked up Eri again, positioning her so he could hold her with one arm. With his free hand he summoned his Keyblade and looked at them.

“I have some of a plan, but I think it might work. We can’t stay here, this place has already been torn up, not to mention there’s only one entrance and exit we can use. Most of the city is overrun, but I think I know a place where we’ll be safe. It’s not as populated, but it  _ is  _ a bit more open. But maybe using Todoroki’s ice we can make it more defendable. Does that sound good?” He asked.

“Sounds better than nothing.” Todoroki shrugged. 

“I agree with Todoroki.” Iida nodded.

“Wherever you go, we go.” Ochako promised. 

“Okay.” Izuku nodded, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to stop shaking. “I’m holding Eri, but I’m also our main defense. So if we see any of those monsters we run. Todoroki, you’re going to be in the back of the line, so you can freeze the path behind us and buy us more time. Iida will be in front of you, so if you fall behind he can get you and help you catch up. Uraraka, you stay in the middle okay? I might have to hand Eri off to you if things get bad.” 

All three nodded at Izuku.

“Eri.” Izuku looked down at her. “I need you and Mogma to hold on real tight okay?”

“Okay.” She whispered. 

Izuku patted her back and adjusted his hold on her to make sure she wouldn’t fall. They approached the door in formation, all of them steeling their nerves and getting ready for the run.

“Are you ready?” Izuku asked shakily.

“Yes.” They all responded, looking just as nervous.

“Okay, let’s go!”

Izuku sprinted out of the door and into the alley, turning a different corner on a familiar path. They were still in the small alleys, from where they were they could hear more of the chaos in the distance. All of them elected to ignore it and ran forward. 

Izuku led them through the winding alleyways before finally emerging onto the wider street. It was quiet, destruction was everywhere, but it was free of people. At the moment there was no sign of the Heartless. Making them feel somewhat at ease.

“They haven’t come here yet.” Ochako muttered, sticking close to Izuku.

“Don’t hold your breath!” Todoroki raised his voice as he looked over his shoulder. A few Heartless had sensed them and were rising from the ground. 

Iida looked over his shoulder, his eyes widened and the quickly growing horde. “Todoroki!”

“On it!” He stopped in his tracks and slammed a foot down, creating a wall of ice and blocking off the street. Once he was finished he turned around and sped forward to catch up. 

More and more Heartless appeared, coming from the shadows and taking interest in the fleeing group. They began to dart towards the group, the shadows crashing into each other and slowly converge and meld into one another.

Ochako took a chance to look behind her, seeing the creatures climb over the ice wall and combining into one another. 

“Uh, guys? The monsters are doing something weird!” She shouted.

Izuku looked behind him and saw what she meant. How they all melted into each other to form a grotesque ball of darkness that only grew bigger and bigger.

_ Oh crap… _

“Just keep running!” He yelled, speeding up. The other matched his pace and followed him out to a large field. Far above them was a gargantuan ball of darkness, still consuming everything it could.

“Uh, Izuku, what’s that supposed to be?” Ochako asked, pointing overhead.

“I-I...I have no idea.” He admitted.

Eri tried to look up, only for Izuku to pull her close again.

“Don’t look Eri, don’t look.”

He felt her nod as they made it to the center of the field. The growing swarm of Heartless were right on their tails. 

“A field?” Iida asked.

“It’s better than the city!” Izuku defended his choice. 

“Todoroki, can you make a- look out!” 

Izuku raised his Keyblade and fired off a wave of fire, repelling the ever growing swarm of shadows.

“That thing is getting bigger.” Todoroki noted. “If I made an ice dome, I don't think it would hold very long against it.”

“I don’t think it would either…” Izuku admitted, trying to come up with another plan. Something else that could work. He had to think of something quick, he didn’t have time!

“Izuku there’s another one!” Ochako shouted, pointing at a new tide. This one looked even bigger than the one that way already circling them.

“Oh...Kupo this is bad. This is really, really bad…” Mogma was starting to panic. 

Eri had dared to look up and was terrified. She gripped Izuku’s shirt tightly and tried to look away, but she couldn’t. 

“I-Izuku?”

“There’s another one!” Iida announced, watching a third rise from the ground and charge towards them.

“Midoriya!” 

Izuku summoned the torrent of water, pushing back the tide and sending it away. Like the other two it had begun to circle them, getting ready to attack.

Izuku felt himself begin to panic, he was trying to come up with some kind of plan. Something, anything. Anything would be better than what he was doing now, which was absolutely nothing! He blinked back tears and swallowed back the bile that kept creeping up his throat. 

He was scared.

He was scared and he didn’t know what to do.

“Izuku?” Ochako looked at her friend, only to see he was just as frightened as her.

He needed to protect them! He needed to keep them safe, he needed to shield them from the inevitable attack!

A lightbulb went off in Izuku’s head. A shield,  _ a Barrier _ . He could make one, maybe one big enough to cover them all. But there was no way he could make one strong enough...unless there was.

Izuku knelt down and shrugged his backpack off, opening it and digging through the contents. He coaxed Eri into letting him set her down so he could hasten his search.

“Midoriya, what are you doing!” Todoroki glared at him. 

“Something stupid.” Izuku admitted. “But it’ll be worth it. I promise.”

“How stupid?” Iida asked.

Izuku grabbed a handful of Ethers and sighed. “I might end up poisoning myself.”

“What!” Ochako looked at him in alarm. 

Izuku said nothing as she shoved the Ethers into his mouth. Ignoring the overpoweringly bitter yet sweet taste of them. Izuku forced them down before eating another handful.

Mogma stared at him in horror and got down from Eri’s arms.

“Kupo what are you doing! Stop! Stop eating those, you’re gonna have too much magic in your system! That can kill you!”

Izuku swallowed another Ether and grunted in pain, his body protesting the foreign substance, and the vast amount of magic coursing through him

“An overflow is what I’m going for.” Izuku coughed, grabbing one more small Ether and swallowing it. He was shaking uncontrollably and felt hot and cold at the same time. He couldn’t breathe, but at the same time felt like there was too much air in his lungs. His eyes became pools of green light.

“Izuku…” Eri looked up in fear as Izuku stood up.

“I-It’s fine.” Izuku gathered up as much magic as he could hold. “I-I said I would protect us, a-and I meant it.” 

Izuku screamed as he raised his hands and formed a barrier around them, making it large and giving them plenty of room.

_ Make it stronger. _

It flashed and grew brighter, it was reinforced.

_ Stronger. _

Another layer was added.

_ Stronger! _

The second layer was reinforced.

“They’re coming!” Ochako shouted. 

_ Please be enough. Please be enough! _

Izuku felt the three swarms of Heartless slam into the Barriers, making him shout in surprise. They desperately scratched and clawed at it, breaking it and sending cracking through it. 

Izuku used his magic to fix the damage and try to push back against the Heartless. He flinched as the first Barrier began breaking faster than he could repair it. They were tearing through it like it was nothing! Even with his overflow of magic!

Izuku continued to pour magic into the Barriers, only for the first one to finally shatter with a deafening crash. The Heartless wasted no time in slamming into the final Barrier, eager to get to their prey and tear them apart. 

Izuku poured everything he could into the final Barrier, trying to make it as strong as possible. If they could survive this wave then they’d be okay. 

Izuku fell to his knees as the Barrier began to grow smaller, the Heartless pressing tightly against it. It was taking everything he had to hold it, the sudden rush of magic was quickly taken from him. Leaving him feeling sick and unsteady. 

He panted as he heard the Barrier begin to crack. His attempts to repair it couldn’t keep up with the damage. The Barrier grew smaller and smaller, everyone was pressed close together. 

He couldn’t hold it any longer, he felt the Barrier was about to break. 

Eri saw this and held onto Izuku for dear life, refusing to look at the Heartless.

“Guys…” Tears poured down Izuku’s face as the last of his magic gave away. “I am so sorry.”

The Barrier shattered, and everyone screamed as the Heartless converged on them. Dragging them into an unknown darkness as the rest of their world fell apart. 


	9. Welcome to Traverse Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to Fae for Betaing this!

**Welcome to Traverse Town**

  
  
  


Two strangers walked through the plaza of the world that was new to them, wearing clothes that clearly labelled them as nonresidents of the world. The few people who dared to stay outside looked them up and down before turning away. Most assumed they were just another set of poor souls. That they lost their world and were now trying to get their bearings. 

The tallest of the two looked around with unease. “Sure is quiet around here.”

“Aw what about it?” The shortest looked up at him.

“I’m just saying, it’s a little spooky.” He caught the eye of a few residents who quickly walked away. He was about to say something else when he noticed a bright flash in the sky. He looked up in surprise and gasped, pointing at the sky.

“Look, a star’s goin’ out!” He exclaimed. “No wait, it’s two!”

They watched as two stars in the sky shone brightly for a moment, one admittedly fainter than the other, before both blinked out of existence. Leaving the sky a little more empty.

“Come on, let’s hurry.” 

The two walked off in what they hoped was the right direction, followed by a yellow dog.

As they walked further into the town the shorter of the two, a duck, groaned in irritation. “Where is that ‘key’?” 

“Well ya know Donald, maybe we oughta go find Leon. I’m pretty sure he can help.”

Donald rolled his eyes and continued onward, not stopping when Goofy had stopped. He watched their companion, Pluto, sniffing at the ground and walking into an alley. 

Goofy looked over to his friend. “Uh Donald. Ya know, I betcha that…”

“Aw what do you know, you big palooka?” He waved a hand and continued on his way.

“Hm, what do I know?” Goofy looked up before shrugging. “Come on Pluto!”

From afar a little girl hid behind a wall, waiting for the loud strangers to leave before making her way out from her hiding space. She had tried to not draw any attention towards herself from any of the people who had been standing around earlier, mostly successful. Most people didn’t give her a second look. Eri had woken up a short while ago, on the ground and all alone. She had called out for anyone she knew. Aqua, Izuku, his friends. She shouted their names a couple of times before starting to cry, she was all alone now and no one was coming to save her. 

At some point she had managed to get to her feet and began walking around, actively avoiding people if she could. Save for the few times she mustered up the courage to ask one or two people if they’ve seen who she’s looking for. All the times she had gotten no helpful responses, and it only served to make her even more scared. If she was on her own, how was she going to survive? Where would she go? How was she going to take care of herself?

The mere thought of those questions made her ready to break out into tears again, she had no idea what to do. All she could think about was walking forward, trying to come up with some kind of plan. If Izuku could do it, maybe she could too, right?

Her thoughts were interrupted as she crept up a set of stairs and was startled by a yellow dog running out of a nearby alley. Eri yelped in surprise and stumbled back, expecting the dog to run past her. Much to her surprise the dog skidded to a stop in front of her and looked at her, tilting his head. 

Eri stared at the dog for a moment before daring a step closer. She reached out to pet him and saw him lean forward and sniff at her hand before barking excitedly and licking her face. A giggle escaped from her as she pet the dog.

“Are you alone too?” She asked softly. The dog didn’t answer of course, only licking her face again before suddenly stopping. 

Much to her disappointment he had stopped all of a sudden and looked up, tilting his head with an ear lifted up. Like he was listening for something. 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” She asked, gasping when he suddenly took off running. Eri took a few steps forward and reached out for him. 

“N-No wait!” She called out, watching him round a corner and disappear. “Please don’t go…” 

Eri was alone again. 

She gripped her sleeves and looked around, hoping to find any trace of anyone she knew. Of course, there was no one there. The overwhelming feeling of loneliness began to take over again when she heard a new voice.

“Hi there.”

She gasped and whirled around, backing away at the sight of the stranger. As she was backing away she tripped on a loose brick and fell over. 

“Woah, are you okay?” He asked, stepping forward and stopping when she whimpered and put her arms up defensively.

Eri hesitantly looked up to get a good look at the stranger. He looked to be about as old as Izuku, with spiky brown hair and kind blue eyes. They almost reminded her of Aqua’s. 

She flinched when the strange boy knelt down in front of her.

“Oops, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?” He asked.

Eri watched him for a moment, before nodding and putting her arms down. She eyed him warily as she got to her feet, and saw him stand up too. 

The boy nodded. “Say, do you know what this place is?”

Eri shook her head.

“Oh...uh, have you seen my friends? Their names are Riku and Kairi, they’re really nice. Riku has white hair, while Kairi’s is kind reddish brown. Maybe they’re looking for me too.”

As Eri shook her head again she couldn’t help but feel a little bad when she saw him frown. 

“Oh, okay.” He scratched at his face.

The two stood in awkward silence for a bit, glancing at each other before looking away. With a little hope in her heart Eri spoke up.

“I-I’m...I’m looking too.” She murmured, blinking back tears. “I d-don’t know where he is...” She stammered.

The boy looked taken aback by this. “You’re all alone too? Who are you looking for?”

Eri sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “I-Izuku, m-my brother.” She answered.

“Oh, what does he look like?” 

“Green, curly hair and freckles. He’s r-really nice.” She answered. “I-I woke up alone.” 

The boy looked around for anyone matching the description, sadly nobody in the plaza matched. 

“Say, why don’t we look together?” He asked. “I can help you find your brother, and you can help me find my friends. How does that sound?” 

Eri looked up at that, seeing him smile at her. She stared for a moment before nodding, he seemed trustworthy. He was nice, and if he helped her find Izuku, then that was good! She’d be back with him, at least she hoped she would. He had to be around here somewhere.

“My name’s Sora. What’s yours?” He asked, holding out a hand.

Eri looked at his hand before looking back up at him, then at his hand again. She hesitantly took his hand and looked up at him before responding timidly. 

“I’m Eri…”

  
  
  


**-.-**

  
  


The world came back to him in bits and pieces, little by little. Even though he could feel the cold hard ground beneath him he still had the sensation of floating. Like he wasn’t all there yet. He could feel his chest rattle with every breath he took and he could still feel himself shaking. The lingering mixture of hot and cold running through him made him feel sick.

The world was quiet, nothing notable. A faint hum of electricity from afar, the wind blowing gently. 

Izuku felt his consciousness begin to fade again, until he felt something sniff at him before licking his face. He groaned and tried to turn away, only for whatever was bothering him to become more insistent and try harder to wake him up.

“Ugh…” Izuku groaned, and slowly opened his eyes. He was met with the sight of a yellow dog standing over him. He made a noise of confusion before pushing himself up, only managing to sit up before the dizziness came back. 

“What the...what happened?” He muttered, looking around to see he was behind some kind of wall. There was a low decline at both ends of the space he was in. 

He sat there for a moment, letting the dog nudge him as he tried to remember how he got there. Then it all came back to him.

His Keyblade, the Heartless, the barrier shattering. And then…

Izuku shouted and got to his feet, looking around frantically.

“No...no no no! What is this place?” He stumbled forward and went down the ramp. He ignored how everything spun this way and that. He only paused when he came out to a more open area, it was quiet and empty. Where one would think people would normally be. 

“Woah…” He muttered, looking around. He walked forward a bit and saw streetlamps lining the wall he was behind. In the middle of them in the corner was a golden fountain with a statue of two dogs behind a table. 

In front of the fountain he saw his yellow backpack sprawled out on the ground. Ethers and broken potion bottles scattered around it. Beside them was his phone, the upper right corner of the screen was cracked. 

“Oh no.” Izuku made his way forward, wobbling a bit when he became unsteady again. He knelt down at his bag, noting the scratches and rips it had here and there. It looked like the Heartless went to town on it. He frowned as he counted the Potions and Ethers he had left, it wasn’t a lot but it was better than nothing. 

He slung his backpack over his shoulder, pocketed his phone, and got to his feet. He needed to take stock of the situation, he needed to figure out what was happening and how everyone was doing.

Izuku froze in his tracks, feeling a bit of panic rise as he looked around. It suddenly dawned on him that he had yet to see his friends. Any of them.

“Eri?” He called out. “Uraraka? Iida? Todoroki?” He raised his voice. “Is anyone out there?”

Izuku waited, hoping that someone would call out in response. Unfortunately all he received was silence. He felt himself begin to shake as the worst thought came to mind. The possibility his friends didn’t make it, that Eri didn’t make it. It brought on an awful feeling of dread.

He was all alone again, there was nobody around. There probably wouldn’t  _ be _ anybody around, for all he knew they…

Izuku sniffed, staring at the ground as tears began to blur his vision.

There was no way they could be gone, could there? They were there with him,  _ right there _ . They were so close, they were within arms reach. But now they were gone, and it was all his…

_Stop it!_ _Stop it! You just woke up, you’re in a weird place. Maybe your friends got separated from you, maybe there somewhere nearby. Don’t panic just yet._

Izuku shook his head and wiped away the few tears that had escaped. 

  
“Focus.” He muttered. “Get your priorities straight, you don’t get to fall apart. Keep it together. Find the others, and then figure out what to do next.” 

Izuku took a deep breath and let it out, composing himself. Crying about his situation wasn’t going to get him anywhere. It wouldn’t solve anything, and right now he had to focus. He had to find Eri and the others, and hope they’re alright.

Izuku looked down to see the yellow dog sitting beside him, looking up at him while panting.

“You uh, wouldn’t happen to know where we are would you?” He asked sheepishly. 

The dog offered no response, other than tilting his head. After a moment he stepped forward and began to lick Izuku’s hand. The teenager allowed himself to smile before petting the dog. 

“I’m gonna take that as a no then.” Izuku sighed. “Alright then. First off, I’m alone in a weird place. I’m low on supplies, and energy.”

Izuku looked around with questions bouncing around his head. There was no way any place in his world would look like this right? Well there  _ was _ the possibility, Izuku never visited anywhere outside of Japan.

_ But that thing was a global event, and if the Heartless took over then...does that mean my world is gone? _

Izuku paled at the thought, and looked down in horror. So many lives lost, so many people that couldn’t be saved. In the end there was nothing he could do...

He felt his heart hammer in his chest, painfully beating against his ribs as he forced himself to take in one breath after the other. He had to focus, he couldn’t be falling apart. 

_ Get it together! Look around first, try to find someone, anyone. Then go from there. _

He wiped away the tears before they had a chance to fall and cleared his throat. He put a hand to the charm hiding under his shirt and took a deep breath. 

“Okay…” He shook his head and looked up to see a door at the top of some stairs. “Have to keep moving forward.” 

The dog barked at him excitedly before getting to his feet and running circles around Izuku, then taking off up the stairs.

“W-Wait hold on!” He shouted, breaking into a run to catch up. The dog paid him no mind as it pushed the doors open and raced out. 

_ If he does know his way around, then I just have to follow him! _

Izuku scrambled to the top of the stairs and ignored the nausea that plagued him. When he got to the top he was quick to go through the doors the dog did, only to find an empty alleyway and no sign of his new friend. 

“I already lost him.” He muttered, shutting the doors behind him. “But it’s an alley, he couldn’t have gone too far.” Izuku looked around as he walked forward. All the windows to the buildings were dark and shut tight, the residents must be scared of the Heartless. They were just trying to protect their homes as best they could.

If he had to be honest, the quiet was more than a little unnerving. Izuku was used to noise in the city, even in the suburbs. From honking horns to chattering people, to people calling others for dinner, or random yelling about something. It was a background noise he was used to, and to see this place seem so desolate, he could only wonder how severe the Heartless problem was. 

Izuku was about to round the corner when he heard clanking metal pass by, sending chills racing up and down his spine. He had only gotten that feeling of dread a few times, but he knew what it was.

_ Darkness. Heartless! _

Izuku summoned his Keyblade and steeled himself as he darted out of the alleyway and looked towards the group of Heartless. He frowned at what he saw, they weren’t shadows, far from it actually. They looked like a small group of soldiers with sharp claws and erratic movement. Chasing after their prey.

Izuku looked up to see the group had followed a tall blonde man, into the next alley over.

He dashed after them, seeing the man had been backed into a corner and was coughing violently into his hand. He glared at the creatures, looking for some way to fight back.

“Fire!” Izuku shot out a fireball that collided with the one of the Heartless and sent it flying into the wall. This gained the attention of the other Heartless as he ran forward, eyeing each one as he waited for an attack. They didn’t hesitate as they rushed towards him, proving they were faster than the small shadows Izuku was used to. 

Izuku shouted as he deflected a scratch attack and smacked another one away. 

They surrounded Izuku, each one grappling to get a hold of him. He fired off a wave of flames, sending them skittering away for a moment before he rounded on the one behind him and cut through its armor. Banishing it in a puff of smoke as a small light appeared from the darkness, and disappeared as soon as it came.

“What the-”

“Young man look out!”

Izuku whirled around just in time to put up a small barrier and watched the Heartless bounce off of it. It laid on the ground as the others rushed forward to challenge him. Izuku huffed and gathered what energy he had and sent out another burst of flames. He saw the magic fire eat away at the armor as they hissed in pain. 

Izuku took advantage of their stunned state and put his strength into a heavy blow, shouting as he cleaved through all three and sent them away. He panted and looked around before remembering the one he had stunned earlier. He turned around to finish it off, only to get clawed in the face and sent stumbling back in surprise. 

He hissed in pain and held the scratches, waiting until the Soldier got closer to finish it off. It jumped up to try and kick him, only to be smacked down by the man wielding a stick he found. Izuku stared at him in surprise before regaining his composure and cutting through the last Heartless. 

He panted as he stood up straight, lightly touching the scratch. He was about to turn to the man when he came walking up to Izuku.

“Young man, are you alright?” He asked, blue eyes looking Izuku up and down in concern.

“I’m fine sir, are  _ you  _ alright _?  _ You were being chased by Heartless! And you’re...are you bleeding?” Izuku noted the red streaks around the man’s mouth. “Holy- okay hold on I have something that can help.” 

Izuku hurriedly shrugged off his backpack and pulled out a potion, holding it out to the man. “Here, drink this. It’ll help, I promise.” 

The man stared at the bottle before shaking his head. “No young man, it's fine. It’s an old injury, nothing caused by the dark creatures. That, I’m assuming, is medicine, won’t help.” He coughed before straightening himself. Izuku couldn’t help but note that this guy was  _ tall _ . 

“If it’s meant to treat injuries, I suggest you use it on yourself. You’re not looking very well, young man.” 

Izuku frowned and stared at the bottle, taking a moment to uncork it and down half of the potion before closing it again. He had to save what he could.

“Are you sure?” Izuku asked. 

The man nodded and watched him put away the bottle. 

Izuku sighed and looked around before turning to the man again. “Uh, sir? Is it okay if I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Have you seen a little girl? She’s about this tall with whitish hair and red eyes. She’s got a little horn on the right side of her forehead. Her name is Eri, you haven’t seen her have you?” He asked.

Izuku waited with bated breath before the man shook his head. “I’m sorry, I haven’t seen her. Is she a family member?”

“Yes, she’s my little sister.” Izuku nodded. “And another thing is you don’t mind me asking. Do you happen to know where we are or what this place is?”

Much to Izuku’s dismay, he shook his head again. “I’m sorry, but I’m not a local.”

Izuku looked down. “Oh...okay.” He took another look around before the man spoke up again. 

“I believe some introductions are due, my name is Toshinori Yagi, I was a faculty member at UA.”

Izuku looked up at that, looking down at the man’s outstretched hand before taking it. He knew UA, so he had to be from the same world.

“My name is Izuku Midoriya, I was actually a student at UA.”

_ So we’re from the same world and we both ended up here...maybe I have a good chance at finding the others _ .

“It’s nice to meet you Young-” He began but fell into a coughing fit, making Izuku worry.

“A-Are you okay?” He asked loudly. 

Yagi held up a hand and shook his head, taking a moment for his fit to leave. “I-I’m okay Young Midoriya. Nothing to worry about, it’s normal for me.”

“Are you sure you don’t want a potion?” Izuku offered again.

He shook his head. “No, I’ll be fine. For now how about we get to work finding your sister, and finding out where we are?”

Izuku watched him before nodding. “Oh wait, you’re a faculty member of UA right? Then would it be safe to assume that you know Uraraka, Iida, and Todoroki?” 

Yagi nodded. “Yes, they’re Hero Course students aren’t they? Why, were they with you last time you saw them?” 

Izuku nodded. “I’m worried...I just hope they’re around here somewhere.” 

The sickly man stared down at Izuku for a bit until sighing. “Well then, we should get going. Standing around here and doing nothing won’t help us get answers.” 

Izuku paused before nodding. “Right, you’re right. It’d probably be best to keep moving too, since we don’t want to get caught by any other Heartless.”

“Is that what they’re called?”

“O-Oh, yeah.” 

Izuku looked around again, spotting a lot of different ways they could go. There was a door right beside them, and then he was sure he had seen another one while he was running out the first alley. That wasn’t even mentioning the upper section of the area. 

Izuku looked around, already steeling himself for another inevitable fight. He was going to have to get used to it. He not only had to protect himself, but Mr. Yagi too. He didn’t feel comfortable leaving the man alone, even if he was an adult and all that. There was no way he’d be able to fight off a horde of Heartless on his own.

Izuku had to save and protect who he could.

“Maybe we should go through there first.” Izuku pointed at the doors beside them. A blue door with frosted glass in the middle. 

“Alright, that sounds good. Do you have a plan, Young Midoriya?” He asked.

“O-Oh, uh me? I’m sorry if I seem to be overstepping here, I mean I know you’re the adult and all but I uh-”

Yagi held up a hand and shook his head with a smile. “No worries young man, it’s fine. I believe it would be best for you to take point, seeing as you’re more capable than I am when dealing with those creatures. I will do my best to offer any support I can.” 

Izuku stared at him before slowly nodding. He was trusting him, he was putting him in charge. Was that really the best decision? Izuku didn’t even know what he was doing or where to start!

“Okay.” He said, quieting the thoughts in his mind. “We can go through here first, and then see where it takes us. We might end up circling back around, I have a feeling there are multiple entrances to these places. If we get into a fight I’ll do my best to handle it, but if it starts looking bad, promise me you’ll run Mr. Yagi?”

The man stared at him before shaking his head. “I can’t make promises like that, Young Midoriya. As far as I’m concerned I’m in charge of taking care of you. You  _ are _ still a student, it would be irresponsible to leave you alone.”

Izuku stared at him before nodding and gulping down whatever fear or doubt that had been bubbling up. 

“Okay.” He whispered to himself and got his backpack. Izuku rifled through it before grabbing a small ether. He stared at the small blue stone in apprehension, feeling his stomach twist and writhe at the thought of eating another one. He could still feel the nausea and dizziness from when he overloaded himself, it would be a while until he recovered from that. 

He took a deep breath and popped the stone into his mouth, crunching on the bitterness and forcing himself to swallow. He gagged and doubled over, feeling his stomach protest. Despite that, the feeling of some magic energy returning was welcome. 

_ Okay, deep breaths. Deep breaths. _

“Young man what did you just eat?” Yagi demanded.

“J-Just something that...that helps me get my energy back. I-It tastes bad, but I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure?” 

Izuku nodded and faced the doors. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


As the two in the plaza walked through the doors to the Second District, a different pair walked into the plaza. Just leaving the small shop they decided to pay a quick visit to, meeting a man named Cid who offered to look out for them should they need anything. 

Eri looked around, biting her lip and holding on tighter to Sora’s hand. It was quiet, way too quiet. She had spent enough time in her life being in danger to know the different kinds of quiet. There was the still and calming silence that meant she was safe, there was nothing to be afraid of. Then there was the eerie, unsettling quiet that sent alarm bells ringing and told her to run as far as she could. Find a safe place and stay there until someone could get you. That was the rule. It was always Aqua who chased away the frightening quiet and banished the shadows, even Izuku.

But they weren’t here, and she was alone. 

“It’s really quiet here huh?” Sora looked around. “I wonder where everyone is.”

“Hiding?” Eri looked up. 

“Maybe, but there’s nothing around here.”

Eri tightened her grip on his hand. The Heartless could just pop out of nowhere, she knew this. She just hoped her new friend would be able to act fast enough if some  _ did _ show up. 

They walked forward and looked over the area, of course finding nothing but emptiness. 

“Looks like our friends aren’t here either.” Sora frowned. “But they’ve gotta be somewhere.”

Before Eri could respond they heard a loud cry from below. They looked down to one of the alleyways to see a man scrambling to get away from something. The man screamed as he fell to the ground, looking down in horror as a bright glow came from his chest and was sucked in by a looming darkness. 

The man’s body faded away as the darkness took shape and transformed into a Heartless they’d never seen before. 

The Soldier Heartless moved around and shifted its new body before hopping up and disappearing. 

The two sat in horrified silence, unsure what to say. 

Eri was about to suggest they keep moving until a group of the Soldier Heartless appeared around them. She yelped in surprise as Sora took his hand away from hers and got down in a crouched fighting stance, there was a brief flash of light, and there in his hands was a Keyblade. 

“You have a Keyblade too?” Eri asked.

Sora shot her a look of surprise. “You know what this is?”

“I-I...Look out!” she shouted as a Soldier jumped towards Sora. He yelped in surprise and swung his blade, sending the Soldier flying back. 

Eri stayed close to Sora and looked around in fear. These were new monsters, much different than the shadows she was so used to. They were bigger and even more frightening, they moved erratically and seemed somewhat smarter than the shadows.

Sora grunted and swiped at the Soldiers, trying his best to keep a distance between them. While he was trying to drive them away, he didn’t see one lone soldier make its way behind them. He whirled around when Eri let out a cry of alarm and jumped forward towards the soldier. He smacked the other Soldier away and backed up.

“Stay close okay?” Sora looked down at her. 

If he had to be honest he was starting to panic a little. He hadn’t expected this many Heartless to show up at once, it had seemed like the town they ended up was a safe space. Not only that, but he still had no idea where he was or where his friends could be, let alone Eri’s brother. Then there was the issue of defending Eri and himself. 

They were in a relatively open space. He knew how to keep himself out of harm’s way, but trying to defend a second person in a wide area where anything could come from anywhere was a challenge in itself. 

Sora shouted as he brought his Keyblade down on one of the Soldiers, watching it disappear into a puff of smoke. That was one down…

Sora gasped and ducked as a Soldier tried to land a kick at his head, only to miss and fall to the ground before getting up again. It couldn’t do much else before Sora slammed the Kingdom Key into it as hard as he could. Sending it flying before it faded away. 

_ That’s another one _ .

Eri ran to stay near Sora, but did her best to stay out of the way enough that she wouldn’t hinder him. 

“I-Is there somewhere we can run?” Eri looked around as Sora continued to fight, shouting in pain when a Soldier managed to get close enough to scratch up his arm before getting knocked away. He looked down to see the small gashes before looking over to Eri and hurrying over to keep another Heartless away from her. 

“I-I think so.” Sora looked around and spotted a building with its lights on. He made another strike at a Soldier, making a dent in its armor. He took a moment to run forward to finish it off before looking at Eri. He panted and looked around, he thought there’d be more. It turns out he had been worried for nothing. He managed to get out of there with Eri unscathed and only a scratch on himself. 

“Okay, it looks like we’re okay.” Sora smiled. “Come on, let’s head over to that building. Maybe there’s someone inside who can help us. Maybe they’ve seen our friends.”

Eri hummed in agreement and took his hand again, following him. She noticed how he kept the Keyblade on hand, which was probably a smart choice. There was no telling when the next group of Heartless could show up.

“Hey, so you knew what this is called right?” Sora looked down at her and held up his weapon. “How do you know what it’s called?”

“O-Oh uh...I-Izuku can use one too and...and so can…”

_ So can Aqua… _

“You mean someone else has something like this?” Sora asked, waiting until Eri nodded before he smiled. “That’s pretty cool! I was thinking it was a sort of limited thing you know? Anyway, I’m sure if your brother can use one of these, I think he’ll be just fine!”

Eri stared at Sora for a moment before nodding. 

“Y-Yeah…” Izuku was strong, but she wasn’t sure how well he’d be doing after what he did to himself. Not to mention that he, out of everyone, had expended the most energy to try to keep them all safe. He had never done something like that before, there was no way he would be 100% okay after all that. Right?

Sora approached the building, with a sign that read ‘Hotel’ over the entrance. He pulled on the doors and smiled when they opened. Eri followed him inside and looked around, finding that it was a rather small hotel. There were only four doors, and a small desk on the other end of the hall. She was certain there was a staircase  _ somewhere _ , considering how tall the building was from the outside. 

“Hello? Anybody here?” Sora called out. “Riku? Kairi?”

“Izuku?” Eri tried. Neither of them got a response. 

“I guess everyone is hiding in the rooms.” Sora hummed. “It makes sense that nobody wants to come out.” They walked over to the front desk and rang the bell a few times. There were noises coming from the back, until everything went quiet again. Nobody came out. 

“...Maybe we should leave.” Eri mumbled. “I don’t think our friends are in here…”

“Yeah.” Sora frowned. “Come on, maybe they’re somewhere else.”

Eri tightened her hold on Sora’s hand as they walked out of the hotel, looking around to find the same empty place they were just in.

“Where should we head next?” Sora asked. 

“Uh...how about…” Eri looked around before pointing at a large building just a little ways up the path. “Up there, maybe there’s someone in there who’s seen them?”

Sora looked to where she was pointing and saw a set of doors on the side of the building. “Alrighty then.” 

As they walked towards the doors they heard a loud whoosh that went them whirling around. In front of them were a small group of shadows, all of them eagerly making their way towards the pair. 

Sora got into his fighting stance again and looked around, only seeing the creatures in front of him. He immediately jumped forward and slashed at the shadows, they were weaker than the armored Heartless; making it easier to knock them away and giving him a little more room to work with.

“Are you okay Eri?” Sora asked as he hit one and sent it flying over the railing. 

“Yeah, I’m okay!”

She watched him fight off the rest of the small group, taking in how he fought. It wasn’t graceful yet powerful like Aqua, it was more unrefined but still had good elements to it. Unlike Aqua and Izuku when fighting, he would keep his stance low and focused more on hitting as hard as he could. 

Sora stumbled back when a shadow managed to dodge his attack and swiped at him. It scratched at his arms until he managed to knock it away and land one more hit on it. 

“We should go!” Eri shouted. “Y-You’re getting hurt and they might not follow us inside!”

Sora looked between her and the remaining Heartless. It wouldn’t be smart trying to fight them all, and he still had to watch out for Eri…

He was still contemplating it when even more shadows appeared. 

“Okay, let’s go!” Sora ran away, grabbing Eri’s hand and leading her up the path and approaching the building. He took a quick glance on a sign, reading it as the ‘Gizmo Shop’. He threw the doors open and ushered Eri inside, closing it quickly and pressing his back against the door. 

There was the sound of the creatures skittering around, some of them clawing at the doors or throwing themselves at it with loud thuds. He waited until the noises stopped, staying where he was for a moment before daring a peek outside and seeing nothing.

“Okay, it looks like the coast is clear.” He closed the doors again and stepped away from them. “Are you okay?”

Eri nodded to herself as she looked around, marvelling at the strange machinery and the constantly moving gears and parts of the floor. Though some of the machinery was stagnant and unmoving, there had to be a disconnect of power somewhere. 

“It’s pretty small in here, I don’t think anybody would be hiding in here either.” Sora scratched his head. 

They couldn’t see any possible way someone could be in there without them knowing. They could even see the door across the room, there was practically nothing to hide behind. 

“I guess we should keep moving forward.” He pointed at the doors. “Come on.”

Eri nodded silently and followed beside him, looking around as they went. 

“Hey Eri, you’re from another world right?” Sora asked.

“Yeah...are you?”

Sora nodded. “Yeah, I was never sure I’d ever be able to get to see another world. Me and my friends, we wanted to visit other worlds and we planned on using a raft to take us there. I wonder how far we would have gotten…”

Eri stared at him. He wanted to use a boat? To traverse between worlds? That had to be less than safe, not to mention almost impossible. 

“You were going to leave soon?” She asked. 

“Yeah, we had been building the raft and getting supplies ready...and then the storm hit our island. Then those weird creatures showed up, and then my friends disappeared.” He looked down, staring at the floor as he walked before shaking his head and looking up. “But we’re in a new world, if I made it out then my friends had to have made it too.”

“...I hope my friends made it out too.” Eri mumbled. 

“I’m sure they did.” Sora reassured her. “We just have to find them.”

Eri hummed to herself and nodded. “Y-Yeah…”

Sora watched her before opening the door and stepping out. “What was your world like?” He asked.

Eri paused before answering. “It was...big.” She tried to think over her words. She’s heard Aqua talk about the World Order, how it wasn’t meant to be broken. But if she was already on another world, against her wishes, did that mean the World Order was already broken? That made it okay to talk about other worlds right?

“Yeah?” Sora looked around. He walked over to a broken latter with a note of caution taped to it. The ladder was wobbly and looked like it had been run over multiple times. He hummed and looked it up and down.

“Please don’t climb it.” Eri grabbed the back of his shirt.

“I’m not going to climb it, don’t worry.” Sora reassured her, stepping away from the ladder to make her feel better. “But it looks like there’s not much else up here. I bet up there we could get a better look at what’s around, but well…”

“We can’t get up there.” Eri finished. 

Sora nodded and looked over the edge. It wasn’t a far drop, he’s fallen out of trees that were higher. Though for Eri it might be a bit much. 

“We can head back and maybe see if there’s somewhere else we can look. Or we can stop by Cid’s shop again. Maybe he’s seen someone.” Sora turned around towards the doors. He slowly opened the doors and was about to walk inside when he heard something skittering inside. 

He closed the doors a bit and peeked inside to see a bunch of Shadow Heartless crawling around the shop. He stiffened up when some of them looked up and spotted him at the door. He quickly shut the door and turned to look at Eri. 

“We’re going to be taking a different way down.” He looked over the edge then back to Eri.

“You’re going to jump?” She asked, stepping back.

“I can pick you up and hop down there, it’s not that much of a fall I promise. I’ve fallen out of trees that were  _ way _ taller.” He smiled. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.” 

Eri stared at him before hearing loud pounding on the doors, she flinched and looked up at Sora. His grip on the Keyblade tightened as he stared at the door, holding it up and gearing up for a fight. She eyed the scratches on his arms, then the doors that were creaking under the weight of the Heartless. 

She tugged on the back on his shirt and nodded. 

Sora stared at the doors for a moment before kneeling down and picking her up. After hearing the door creak he hopped off the edge, hearing a startled gasp from Eri. He stumbled a bit in his landing and almost fell over, but managed to steady himself. He was about to put Eri down and decide where to go next, only to see Heartless appear in front of them, cutting them off.

“These things just keep coming!” Sora put her down and held up his Keyblade. There were even more than before.

He frowned and looked around the area, looking for somewhere to go as he backed away from the growing horde. He kept Eri behind him as he swiped some of them away. He glanced between the Heartless and Eri, making sure she stayed close. He did his best to fight off the shadows that got too close, killing off a few. 

Eri gulped and looked up at Sora before looking around. She could see another door nearby, but some of the Heartless were blocking it. She glanced at the stairs to see none of the Heartless had blocked it off yet. 

Sora shouted and sent a small shadow flying into a wall before Eri grabbed his shirt.

“S-Sora, there’s too many of them!” She jumped back as a shadow tried to scratch her, only for Sora to knock it away. 

“I know…” He frowned, looking over the group. He had taken down a few, but it seemed like that hardly did anything to dwindle down their numbers. 

“We can run to Cid’s shop!” She said. “H-He said that he would help us if we needed it right?”

“Yeah, he did.” Sora dodged a swipe. 

“We can run up the stairs real quick, I don’t think they’ll follow us to the district!” She felt Sora gently push her away from the group before taking another swing at them. “A-And if they do, we can hide in the shop.” 

_ If there are this many here...I hope Izuku’s okay. _

Sora nodded to himself and looked at the stairs before turning to the Heartless again. He raised the Keyblade high and yelled as he swung as hard as he could, stunning a few of them before grabbing Eri’s hand and making a run for it. 

When they got to the stairs Sora had Eri go in front of him, and stayed close as she ran as fast as she could. They could hear the creatures chasing after them, eager to get a hold of them.

Sora turned around to send a few away before running to catch up with Eri. She reached the door first and was struggling to open it, she had managed to get it slightly open before Sora came over and joined her. He threw the door open and ushered her inside.

He thought he heard a loud shout and looked over his shoulder to see some of the Heartless had suddenly lost interest in them. Some of them were going back down the stairs and to the bottom. The few that were still chasing them were coming up fast.

Then he saw what looked like lightning show up out of nowhere, and heard the terrifying shrieks of the shadows as they died. Sora shuddered at the sound and kicked away some of the Heartless that were still chasing them, before slamming the door to the district shut.

  
  


**-HoL-**

  
  


Izuku panted and watched the last of the Heartless disappear, whatever Heartless he had seen he faced head on. Compared to the large masses of Heartless he tried to drive away back home these were easier to deal with, but were still a threat. If he could get rid of them and keep them from hurting anyone else, then he’d do it. 

“Are you alright Young Midoriya?” Toshinori asked. 

Izuku used the wall to steady himself and kept his head down. He took deep breaths and worked past the nausea before nodding. 

“I’m fine, just feeling a little sick.”

“Then you should sit down. If you insist on continuing to fight in your current condition you’ll only hurt yourself.”

Izuku straightened up and shook his head. “I’m okay, really. It should pass, I just happened to do something stupid before everything...well…”

Toshinori glanced at Izuku as they began walking again, coming to another door. He had no doubt they would end up back in the plaza where they first met. 

“Did you overexert yourself? Quirk Exhaustion in any form is no joke young man, if you need to recover then please by all means take the time to rest.”

Izuku gave a tired smile. “I’m okay Mr. Yagi, don’t worry. I just needed to catch my breath.” 

_ I don’t have time to rest, not when the others might be in danger… _

Izuku put a hand to the door and slowly pushed it open, peeking on the other side to see if it was clear. He gasped when he saw a group of Heartless racing through the area. The thought he caught a glimpse of someone running away as he ran through the doors.

“Young Midoriya!” Toshinori yelled after him, but Izuku ignored him to run forward. He stopped in front of the fountain and noticed he had gained some of their attention.

“Hey!” He shouted, looking around to see the large group was now honing in on him. Izuku held up his Keyblade, letting the Heartless get closer. He hoped whoever had been running had gotten out of there. 

Izuku took a deep breath, feeling the lightning sparking around him as the large group got closer. He gathered up as much magic as he could and pointed at the horde of Heartless.

_ It won’t be as powerful as what I managed to pull in the Entrance Exam...but it should be strong enough. I hope… _

He knew he was pushing his limits with how much he was gathering, but he had the Keyblade now. He hoped that would reduce the backlash if any.

“Thundara!” Izuku shouted, watching as a bolt of lightning came down and struck the Heartless. He flinched at the shrieks and hisses they let out before dissolving into puffs of smoke. A few sparks lingered around Izuku before disappearing and leaving the boy alone.

There was a moment of silence before he threw himself forward at the remaining Heartless. Bringing the Keyblade down on them until they all disappeared. He heard someone call after him as he rushed up the stairs, hoping the person had managed to get away. 

He ran over to a large set of doors to see a Heartless scratching at the doors, trying to get in. Izuku huffed and rushed over, knocking the shadow away and finishing it before it could attack him. 

He stood up straight and panted as he scanned the area, waiting for something to show up again. 

_ I really hope whoever was running is okay. _

“Young Midoriya!” Toshinori called and ran up to him, pausing only to cough and grip at his side. 

“M-Mr. Yagi, are you okay?” He asked, stopping when the man held a hand up.

“I’m fine Young Midoriya, I’m more concerned about you. You just ran off and took on that large group of monsters, you’re not hurt are you? I know you said something about feeling sick a little earlier.”

Izuku sighed and leaned against the wall, feeling his head spin for a moment. He had used up most of the magic he had, only having some dregs left. Maybe enough for one more spell.

“I’m okay, just a little dizzy. But I can keep going.” He insisted, looking up at him.

Toshinori shook his head. “Take a moment to rest young man, that was...quite a lot you just did. What possessed you to run out and face all those creatures?”

“I thought I saw someone running away.” He answered. “I thought if I could get the attention of the Heartless, I could buy them some time to get out of here. And I think they did, since there was a Heartless trying to get through those doors.” 

Toshinori turned to look at the doors, most likely leading to an area they hadn’t seen before. But if someone was running that way that had to mean safety, right? Where there was safety there were people, and that meant there was a possibility of finding who they’re looking for. 

“I’m thinking maybe we can catch up to that person.” Izuku started, standing on his own again. “They might be a local, and maybe we can ask for directions for this place, or if they’ve seen Eri or the others.”

“That’s a good plan.” He hummed. “And I don’t believe we’ve been this way yet, but we don’t know if this next part of town may have a few Heartless lurking about, so we have to be careful.”

Izuku walked towards the doors with his Keyblade in hand. “Right...we gotta be careful.” Izuku nodded. 

Toshinori stood behind him before putting a hand on his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re ready to go?”

He nodded. “The sooner we head out, the sooner we can find the others…” He turned to look at Toshinori, noting his concerned look. “I’m okay Mr. Yagi, really. I promise.”

Toshinori stared at him before nodding softly and following Izuku as he opened the doors. The moment they stepped into the First District, the atmosphere had changed. From the eerie quiet they had been subjected to, to a calmer air, the sense of paranoia washed away as they walked through the area. 

They passed what looked like a small shop with a large box in the corner. In the middle was a giant keyhole.

_ Gotta wonder what might be in that. _

Izuku glanced around, looking for any sign of people. Considering nothing had jumped out at them yet it looked like they were in the clear.

_ Maybe that person from earlier is still here. _

Just as Izuku was about to call out for someone a loud cry pierced the air, and made his blood run cold.

“N-No! Please s-stay away! Please don’t hurt him!”

_ I know that voice! _

Izuku ran forward without another thought, turning a corner and nearly falling over before racing forward. He ignored the shouts of the blonde behind him, running forward to the loud cries. Izuku only stopped when he caught sight of a small group standing in the middle of a plaza.

He saw a man with a large sword standing before a boy who was unconscious on the ground. In his hand was what looked like a Keyblade. Beside him, was none other than Eri. Looking up at him in fear and in near tears, begging him to leave them be.

“P-Please stay away! Don’t hurt him!” She shouted, gasping as the man walked forward.

Izuku moved without thinking, throwing off his backpack and running forward and jumping off the railing.

“You get away from them!” He screamed, prompting the man to look up in surprise and bring his sword up before Izuku could strike him. He blocked the hit and backed away, taking a moment to look Izuku up at down, his eyes landed on the Keyblade.

“Another one?”

Izuku glared at the man before daring a look behind him. The boy looked relatively unharmed, just a couple of scratches and bruises.

“Izuku! You’re okay!” Eri yelled.

“Eri! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Who’s that guy there?”

“H-His name is S-Sora.” She answered. “He was t-trying to help me...f-find you.”

Izuku stared at her, then at the boy apparently named Sora. He would have to thank him for looking after Eri later, after dealing with the man in front of them. 

“You’ve got a Keyblade too kid?”

_ He knows what a Keyblade is? _

“Yeah, what about it?” Izuku gripped Indomitable Spirit tightly, looking over the man.

_ This is bad...I don’t have a lot of energy left. And I can’t just carry them out of here and hope for the best, he’d probably catch up to us. _

“I suggest you step down, and let me see that Keyblade of yours.”

“Not gonna happen.” Izuku took a step forward. “I find you about to attack my sister after knocking this guy unconscious, and you really expect me to just do whatever you say?”

The man sighed before drawing his sword again. “You really want to make this harder than it has to be kid? Fine.”

Izuku held up his Keyblade. “Just try to get past me, I dare you!” 

“Izuku…”

“Stay back okay? Just make sure-” Izuku didn’t get to finish his sentence before the man charged forward, bringing his sword down. He barely brought it up in time to block, the force of the hit making him stumble back. 

_ He’s tough! _

Izuku was forced to stay on the defensive as the man closed the distance between them. He did his best to match him blow for blow, hearing their blades sing as they clashed. Izuku was pushed back with every hit, only able to bring his sword up with enough time to block. 

_He’s not giving me any time to try and counter attack, he’s not letting me put any distance between us either!_ _He’s not giving me any time to think!_

Izuku shouted as he swung the Keyblade, making the man back up for a moment. Izuku put some distance between them, trying to buy himself some time. He watched the man, trying to find some sort of weakness, some kind of pattern. He didn’t get much time to think about it before he held up a hand and a fireball appeared.

He fired it off without warning, making Izuku dodge to the side. He looked over to where the fireball landed, seeing a spot of scorched pavement. 

_ He can use magic? He has short and long range attacks, putting space between us won’t work! _

Izuku dodged to the side again, feeling the fire lick at his skin before crashing into the wall. Izuku looked up at the sound of footsteps rushing towards him. He lifted his Keyblade and flinched at the noise the two blades made. 

“You’re handling yourself pretty well, considering you look half dead.” He smirked. 

Izuku grit his teeth as the man pressed harder, making Izuku lose more ground. Izuku gathered whatever magic energy he had left, lifting up a hand to fire off a spell. He felt weak sparks beginning to appear around him. The man gasped and kicked Izuku away, interrupting the spell and sending him to the ground. 

Izuku managed to roll onto his feet and recover fast enough to block another swing. He almost fell over from the force of it, he was starting to see black spots at the edge of his vision.

_ This is bad… _

Izuku shouted as he managed to push the man back and put a few feet in between them again. Izuku watched the man as he glared at Izuku, deciding what to do next. Izuku had positioned himself to be in front of Eri and the boy.

“Izuku…” Eri sniffled, faring a glance at the man. 

“I’m okay Eri.” Izuku panted. “Don’t worry I’m okay.”

The man stepped back and held up a hand, once again conjuring a fire spell. 

_ I can’t dodge, he’ll hit them! _

He watched the spell grow more powerful before lifting his Keyblade.

_ Try to turn it in your favor! _

He gathered whatever magic he had left and aimed it at the still forming fire spell.

“Water!”

He began running forward before the spells collided, bursting violently and creating a cloud of steam that surrounded them.

The man stood in the center of it, slightly staggered by the sudden interruption. He glanced around, unable to see any sign of the second teenager.

“Using my own spell to make a makeshift smoke screen, not bad kid…” His eyes darted to a sudden shift in the steam clouds. “But your surprise attacks need work.”

He whirled around and caught Izuku by surprise, not giving him any time to react before punching him in the face. Forcing him to stagger backwards and nearly fall over. Before he could recover his feet were swept out from under him, sending him to the ground with a hard thud. 

Izuku grunted and began to scoot away, watching the steam clear up to reveal the man walking calmly towards him. Hardly any scratch on him. 

The man raised his sword again, bringing it down as Izuku brought up the Keyblade to block it. He gasped when the weapon was knocked out of his grasp, falling to the ground with a clatter. 

_ I should have gotten here sooner, maybe if we fought together we could have taken him down. I should have gotten here sooner! _

Izuku continued to back away, he barely managed to get to his feet before another swipe of the sword made him duck down. 

“Izuku be careful!” Eri shouted. 

He stumbled back to avoid another sword strike. The attacks weren’t coming as quickly as they were before, he was wearing him down. He was just toying with him!

Izuku looked between Eri and the man, before daring a glance at the road he came from. Mr. Yagi shouldn’t have been too far behind, unless he was having another coughing fit. But he was away from the chaos, he was far enough away they could make a run for it.

“Eri run!” Izuku screamed. “Get out of here, go!”

“But you’re-”

“Get out of here and find-” A blow to the back of his head rendered him unconscious. He had blacked out before hitting the floor, his limbs slack and all tension gone.

Eri gasped and brought her hands to her mouth, looking on in horror. She glanced in the direction Izuku had been looking before. It was the same way she and Sora had come through after escaping the horde of Heartless. And then the strange man had approached them.

Eri stared at the path before shaking her head and rushing forward, silently apologizing to both Sora and Izuku as she threw herself in front of the man and pushed him as hard as she could. He took a step or two back and looked down to see Eri standing in front of Izuku with her arms out. 

Fat tears rolled down her face as she pleaded with him.

“D-Don’t hurt him! Don’t hurt either o-of them p-p-please! Please d-don’t hurt them! P-Please don’t hurt Izuku h-he’s the o-o-only one I-I have left please!”

Her heart hammered in her chest as she stared at the man, her breath coming out in short and painful gasps. She hadn’t felt this scared since she was with  _ him _ . 

She flinched as the man took a step forward and held a hand out.

“I’m not-”

“If you lay one hand on that girl’s head there will be hell to pay!” 

The man paused and looked up to see another man standing at the base of the stairs. Thin and withered, with bushy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. 

Toshinori clenched his fists as he stared at him. He had suffered from a coughing fit when Young Midoriya had run off. He hated that he was too late to help him, seeing him lying on the ground with another boy a few feet away. And then there was the little girl he described earlier, his sister, standing in front of him and trying to protect him. 

“Another one?” He looked up to face Toshinori. 

“I said step away from them!” Toshinori spoke through gritted teeth. “Whatever you intend to do to these children I won’t allow it. So unless you want to be put through a wall I suggest you do as I say.”

“Getting into fights with old people now Squall? Now that’s just mean.” A young girl’s voice appeared behind Toshinori, making him whirl around in alarm. 

A girl walked down the path and stopped a few feet behind Toshinori, looking him up and down before looking at the unconscious bodies on the ground and the sobbing girl in front of him.

“And making a little girl cry, I thought you were better than that!” She frowned and walked past Toshinori.

“I scared her a little, I was never going to hurt her.” He sheathed his sword and glared at the newcomer. “And it’s  _ Leon _ .”

Toshinori frowned and walked forward at a quick pace, placing himself in front of Eri and forcing the two to back away. “Who are you two, and what do you intend to do with these children?” He heard a light gasp from behind him, noting that had to be none other than Eri.

The man was about to speak before the girl slapped a hand over his mouth and spoke for them. 

“Sorry about that, Squall’s been looking for the Keyblade wielder that’s supposed to show up, but had to rough him up a little. I guess he wasn’t being very cooperative.” She shot a glance at the other unconscious boy. “And I’m guessing that’s him.”

“They  _ both _ have a Keyblade, Yuffie.” Leon muttered after removing her hand from his face. 

“What?” 

Leon pointed at the other weapon on the ground, completely different than the one the brunette had in his hand. All of them watched the weapon before it disappeared with a small flash of light. 

“Woah, there are two of them?” She asked in awe.

“Yeah, and that means that things are a lot worse than we thought.” He frowned.

Toshinori spoke up again before either of them could say anything. “What is it exactly you want from these boys?” He asked. 

Leon looked up at the man towering above them. “I was just trying to get the Keyblade from that one.” He pointed at Sora. “The Heartless are drawn to it, and separating them from each other would have hidden his presence, at least for a little while. And then  _ that one _ showed up.” He gave a pointed glare at Izuku. 

“Y-You’re not...you’re not g-gonna hurt them?” Eri asked softly, kneeling beside Izuku and clutching his hand tightly. She was still shaking, something that hadn’t gone unnoticed. 

“No, we’re going to hurt them.” Yuffie bent down to look at her. “I’m sorry if this meathead over here scared you.”

Leon gave her an annoyed look before looking back to Toshinori. 

“And who are you supposed to be?” 

Toshinori hesitated before answering. “I am Toshinori Yagi.” He greeted them. “Behind me is Young Midoriya and Young Eri, they’re siblings. I’ve been taking care of Young Midoriya and assisting him in looking for his sister and friends.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know who he is, would you?” Yuffie looked over at Sora.

The man was silent, having no answer for them. Then Eri spoke up.

“S-Sora.” She mumbled, feeling everyone’s gaze turn to her. “Hi-His name is S-Sora.”

“Sora huh?” Yuffie hummed.

“It doesn’t matter right now.” Leon walked past her and kneeled down beside Sora. He took the Keyblade from his hand and placed it to the side before picking him up, carrying him like luggage. “We’ve been out in the open for long enough, we should get back. You think you can carry him old man?”

Toshinori stared at him before nodding and kneeling down beside Izuku. He looked over the boy to check for injuries, not seeing much other than the minor wounds he got during the Heartless fights. Then there was a bruise on his slightly swollen cheek. He hummed to himself before looking at Eri, who jumped in his presence.

“I’m going to pick him up.” He said gently. “Can you stay close by until we get to where we need to?”

Eri stared at him, then at Izuku before hesitantly nodding. She took a few steps back and watched the withered man gather him in his arms. He lifted Izuku up with minor difficulty and adjusted his weight a bit before looking down at Eri.

“He’s fine.” He assured her. “He’s a little banged up, but he’s okay.”

Eri stared up at him before nodding and walking beside him, her gaze quickly switching between Sora and Izuku. 

As they walked up the path, Toshinori decided to start asking questions again.

“You two seem like you’ve been in this place for quite some time. Would you mind telling me what this place is?” He asked.

Leon, who was walking ahead of them, sighed. 

“This place is a safe haven for those who managed to escape their world when it’s fallen to darkness. It’s usually thought to be a temporary stay, but some people end up calling this place their home after a while.”

He glanced over his shoulder at Toshinori who was taking a moment to process what he said. 

“Welcome to Traverse Town.”

  
  
  



End file.
